At a Walking Pace
by The DayDreaming
Summary: AU“There's dusk in your eyes." In cases of unrequited love, Yuffie is Queen. What does she do to fix this? Try to snag the most unattainable guy ever. Even as she tries, her life seems to only fall apart. But, she'll do it, even if it kills her. It will.
1. to be worthwhile

**At a Walking Pace**

By: The DayDreaming

Warnings: Alternate Universe. Motorbike sabotage. Angsty-ish Yuffie. This fic is supposed to be multi-chaptered, though I may or may not continue based upon whether or not people would like me to proceed with the story and if I feel like it.

Pairings: YuffiexCloud (one-sided in the beginning), YuffiexZexion (one-sided on Yuffie's part), possible ZexionxDemyx (because I've fallen in love with it)

Disclaimer: I'm only going to say it once in this fic. I don't own Kingdom Hearts' story or characters, nor do I own any of Square Enix's characters.

Summary: AU "Hello, Yuffie." Yuffie never believed there was anyone quite as unattainable as Cloud. He was a distant star, and she was microscopic space dust on the bottom of his shoe. But she was still foolish enough to fight for a happy ending. YuffiexCloud, Zemyx, one-sided YuffiexZexion

_This chapter has not been edited for mistakes. If there are any, please notify me and I'll try to rectify the situation whenever I get off my lazy ass._

____________________**-x.-X-.x-____________________**

_chapter one_: **to be worthwhile**

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"Hello, Yuffie."

There's a kind of way you say hello to a person that just screams your despise of that person's very being. Maybe it was the voice, that barely held back snarl. The lips, perhaps, would also come into play; nothing said hatred so much as a quaint greeting with a sneer on one's mouth. Most of all though, the affecting factor would have to be the eyes. The sharp angling of eyebrows, the squeezing of thin lids and the brush of lashes on smooth cheeks really amplified the fiery intensity of a spiteful, send-you-to-hell glare.

Cloud never was the most subtle of people, especially when it came to hiding his emotions (if he happened to be feeling anything other than utter emo-tastic despair). Cloud never was the type to greet his enemies, though, so how was it that Yuffie was on the receiving end of such a distinctive utterance as that which had just came forth from the aforementioned man?

"Hey, there…C-Cloudie…?"

She smiled back sheepishly at her next door neighbor. This wasn't good. The only time Cloud Strife ever noticed her meager and annoying existence was if she had done something terribly, terribly wrong concerning his life, property, or friends.

The black-haired girl let her half-hearted smile drop when she noticed the quiet seething displayed in Cloud's narrowed eyes.

Perhaps it would be best to step away from the extremely nice motorcycle sitting innocently next to the curb, black paint shining dazzlingly in the mid-afternoon haze of Radiant Garden. Inching away, she wondered if Cloud was angry at her for stepping too close to the two-wheeled vehicle, lovingly named Fenrir, or if he had noticed the large, shiny-black-paint peeling scrape on the side of his prized mode of transportation.

"N-Nice weather, huh?" She inwardly winced at the guiltiness in her tone. It had been an accident, right? Why was she so scared? Damn it, she was better at lying than this!

The glare pierced further into her being as Cloud stepped forward towards Fenrir, menacing theme music playing softly in the back of Yuffie's mind. She bit her lip at the sight of Cloud's eyebrows further furrowing at the sorry sight of the motorcycle, idly wondering if such extreme eyebrow extending hurt his nose at all, before quickly snapping to attention when Cloud turned his eyes back on her, silently gesturing to the large mark on Fenrir's side.

"I can pay for that," Yuffie quickly supplied, nervous smile twitching at her lips, "R-Really! I'm so sorry!"

Maybe not. The sorry part, she supplied in her mind, was merely to placate the blonde's rage while she attempted to formulate an escape plan. She had done the dirty deed on purpose, not that she'll ever let him know.

Cloud eyed her distastefully, before turning away to enter his house, "You'd better."

That could have gone better, Yuffie thought to herself, gaze lazily slipping back to the bike. It really was a very pretty piece of machinery. If she ever got up the guts (technically it was more like held them down) she would like to ride it someday, preferably with the blond owner sitting in front, with his hair dramatically swaying in the harsh wind and her slender arms (more like skinny, wimpy, stick-figureish – basically any word that can be used to describe her puny, muscle-mass non-existent limbs) wrapped comfortably around his mid-section.

What a nice fantasy, she thought to herself, if only I weren't so retarded that it would come true. Yuffie was usually an optimist, key word being usually; today, though, wasn't one of her 'oh my gosh, I just feel so good and happy, and I am just so uberly awesome that I could probably save the planet from a falling meteor and snag a handsome prince with my eyes closed' kind of days.

No, instead, it was one of her entirely so infrequent that it was almost considered a legend 'I'm in a slump someone help me I can't get up, close the bathroom door so I can slit my wrists in peace' kind of days. (It should be noted that Leon, a man that was usually more oblivious to the world than a comatose wall, if walls could have comas, had actually taken initiative with his surprisingly tiny attention span towards Yuffie, to categorize all of her moods, incredibly long titles included, into a very precise list, exactly two-and-a-half pages long.) (It should also be duly noted that Leon carried this list with him wherever he went, and it was of Aerith's opinion that he was writing a book on Yuffie to be put into print sometime in the near future.)

Yuffie sighed, disheartened at the situation she had gotten herself into, though it was entirely her fault. Part of her wanted to plead that it really was an accident, that the thought of wanting to harm Cloud Strife's precious Fenrir had never crossed her mind, that she merely wanted to clean the motorcycle of any gained dirt and grime accumulated from aforementioned blonde's frequent rides through the nearby country, just to gain his favor. But then, the niggling part of conscience whispered her dark thoughts throughout the crevices of her mind, stating that she had really meant it, that she had known that steel-wool wasn't used to clean cars or motorcycles, that she maybe wanted the outstanding event of ruining Fenrir to stay at the forefront of Cloud's mind when he remembered her, because it was so much more memorable than the slightly creepy washing of the ebony motorcycle to gain his attention.

And that was the problem, wasn't it? Cloud was almost as oblivious as Leon. He wouldn't notice Yuffie, even if she was bashing his head in with a steel pole while doing the polka. They had been neighbors for over five years now, and he only knew her first name (mostly because it was frequently shouted by the enraged people banging against her front door). He probably didn't even realize that they went to the same university, let alone shared two classes together.

Yuffie gave another long glance at the poor, abused motorcycle, sitting pristinely on the curb, looking for all the worlds like it belonged there more than she did. It would be hard; her parents definitely wouldn't pay for such a big mistake, even if she was their only daughter. We have enough to worry about, she was sure they would say, and haven't you made enough mistakes by now to learn to not be such a wiseass?

She heard a loud clank come from Cloud's house, eyes instantly focusing on the mint-green exterior (as mind-boggling as the color choice was, Cloud didn't seem to care when he moved in with several other housemates, and it had stayed the same shade; Yuffie was sure that the tenants of the house had actually touched up the fading color here and there), before letting out another long-suffering sigh at the complete hopelessness of her situation in general. Had she actually just hoped that the noise emanating from the small house was actually Cloud Strife, coming back to politely apologize for being so harsh, or to continue roughly scrutinizing her and his motorbike?

Yuffie turned away altogether, trying to push down her mixed feelings, leaving a hard knot in her stomach where butterflies were usually welling up at the mere thought of the handsome blond. She headed back the short distance to her house, hollowly going through the motions of opening the door and stepping inside, forgetting about the bucket of soapy water and package of steel-wool sponges sitting beside Fenrir.

This was her life now: a mere empty existence full of longing glances at white-curtained windows and a mint-green house, dreams of a blond man with stunning blue eyes stopping on the sidewalk and helping her pick up some conveniently dropped books, and desperate and humiliating attempts at gaining attention, that mostly garnered the occasional creeped-out twitch in the eye or stalwart glare.

Such was the life of Yuffie, one girl/ninja/stalker extraordinaire, who was completely and undeniably head-over-heels for one mysterious, tall, dark, and brooding Cloud Strife. Not only did he not acknowledge her existence in any way, shape, or form, nor did he show the slightest interest in her at all, but he now hated every single fiber of her being and was probably placing her on a to-be-killed-in-the-future list.

I'd do anything, she mused, looking at her face intently in a mirror hanging lopsidedly on the foyer wall, to have him really look at me, and see someone worthwhile.

Unfortunately, unrequited love never quite works out that way.

**-x.-X-.x-**

Okay, so, I'm not exactly sure what this is. Oh, by the way, it's been a while. Hi guys! I guess this just kind of came out on its own. I felt like typing, but couldn't decide what to work on, so this evil spawn spewed forth from the pits of hell to nestle into my Word document folder.

I'm sorry if the writing is poor; I'm extremely rusty, and I believe my writing has degraded in coherency and diction. Life hasn't been exactly strenuous, but I've been in a slump for quite a long time. It might actually be a mild case of depression; things seem to have started to head downhill in my personality, my friends have become almost non-existent and nothing more than acquaintances to me, and I'm isolating myself and sleeping a lot. I constantly think about death and am having nightmares about murder and torture. But I shouldn't be ranting here.

I really needed something light to write, so this should tide me over. I actually might decide to continue this fic, as this definitely isn't the end of the story; I love happy endings. If you didn't read before, this is in an alternate universe place, kinda sorta. So if things don't make sense, ask me, or I'll probably expound upon things in later chapters, if I decide to continue. Please tell me if you would like for this story to continue; I really don't like updating stories that no one wants to read.

I've never really written romance that well, so this is a bit foreign to me, but I hope I don't mangle things too horribly.

Hopefully, until next time! Please review! The DayDreaming out!

P.S.: Can anyone guess which videogame series I stole the title from? (hint: the title is the Japanese translation, but the actual English title is something entirely different.) Also, from which Disney movie did I steal the ideas for the second-to-last paragraph in the story from? Guess both first, and win a cameo appearance!


	2. to be lonely after the lights go out

**At a Walking Pace**

By: The DayDreaming

Warnings: AU Pink overload. Girly phone conversations. Demonic taco shells. Yuffie really should clean her room.

Summary: AU "Hello, Yuffie." Yuffie never believed there was anyone quite as unattainable as Cloud. He was a distant star, and she was microscopic space dust on the bottom of his shoe. But she was still foolish enough to fight for a happy ending. YuffiexCloud, Zemyx, one-sided YuffiexZexion

_This chapter has not been edited for mistakes. If there are any, please notify me and I'll try to rectify the situation whenever I get off my lazy ass._

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_chapter two_: **to be lonely after the lights go out**

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"…_sponge up the crack, it might have been better…"_

Sometimes, it wasn't pleasant to speak on the phone with Yuffie. Or, to be more precise, to pick up the phone to speak to Yuffie.

It wasn't easy to keep Yuffie's attention span for long, with certain exceptions to that rule, such as watching Disney movies or Sailor Moon, playing chess with Merlin, and when enacting a particularly clever or amusing prank on some poor fool. Unfortunately, the exceptions did not extend to waiting the five or eight seconds needed to listen to the dial tone while calling someone.

Of course, talking to one's self is a perfectly suitable distraction when faced with impending boredom, especially if it's the kind of boredom brought on by a recently placed call that has yet to be answered.

All things considered, it wasn't as bad a phrase to walk in on as it _could _have been, Aerith thought to herself. All the same, though, it had her raising her eyebrows, partly in exasperated acceptance (because it was common knowledge that anything nonsensical spewing from Yuffie's mouth was most likely true, in one form or another, and that _it should be expected_), and partly in mild curiosity as to why a sponge had been up a crack in the first place.

Aerith slid a notepad in front of her from the corner of her desk, quickly grabbing a pen as well, before writing the phrase on the pink pad in neat, curvy letters. As useless as the gesture seemed to her, Aerith wrote down most of the odd phrases or stories Yuffie would blurt out at her over the phone. It was mostly for Leon's benefit, since, though outward appearances would indicate otherwise, the man was constantly amused by the young girl's 'Yuffimisms (despite the fact that it was completely the wrong word relation to use in this situation, it was a convenient enough pun, mostly because almost no one fully comprehended the meaning of the actual, proper word),' and it was of Aerith's belief that he was compiling all of these small notes into a conglomerate to be included in the secret book she also believed he was composing.

She pulled the note off of the pad and stuck the adhesive paper to the top of one of her nearby school binders, so as to not forget to bring it in the next day to show Leon and the rest of their group (when Yuffie wasn't there, of course. Something in the back of Aerith's mind said that it wasn't very fair to Yuffie, to be exposing her private telephone conversations to everyone she knew, behind her back). The phone rested sharply in the crook of her neck as she turned back to her desk surface.

"_Hey, Aerith! You there? Dammit, woman, don't ignore me!"_

Aerith jumped at the screech penetrating her inner ear, dropping the phone onto her pink, plush carpet. She quickly grabbed the plastic device before steadying it against her ear again, wary of any more impatient squawks from the other end of the line.

"H-Hello, Yuffie. Sorry, I was…distracted," She stuttered out, eyes roaming to her left as she subconsciously turned to the voice emanating from the phone.

"_Yeah, well—_

**-x.-X-.x-**

--I hardly think there's anything in your room to keep you distracted for that long—unless!" Yuffie gasped, "You don't have a boy over, do you?! You better not! Your mom's gonna kill you! Are you wearing the chastity belt I gave you?"

There was nothing but silence on the line, except for the faint sound of a half-dried-out pen against what was undoubtedly pink paper. Yuffie rolled her eyes at the mere thought of the older woman's room; the place was practically covered in pink, girly things, spanning from objects such as the baby pink bedspread, to the salmon colored desk top, all the way to the hot pink mascara containers littering the bubble gum dressing table. It was probably one of the most toxic places in the world for anyone with an X chromosome.

There was silence on the line for another couple of seconds before Aerith's static voice permeated the air in Yuffie's bedroom.

"_Ah, no, Yuffie. No one's here with me."_ Aerith didn't expound upon the chastity belt issue, _"Why did you call?"_

Yuffie let out a grumpy sigh, irritation lacing the exhalation, "Aerith! Why do you always ask that? I think I've called enough times by now that you would get the idea that we're _chatting_, you know that girly thing where people gossip about the latest couples and bash on their ex-boyfriends and girlfriends?"

She heard a soft laugh on Aerith's side, indicating that the woman was teasing her, _"Yes, I know. You just sounded upset when I picked up the phone, that's all."_

Yuffie sighed before getting up from her messy bed, where she had been previously sprawled, kicking idly at her pillow. She walked over to her desk, opening one of the drawers disinterestedly and examined the contents held within the wooden abyss.

"Well," She scoffed, "It's just been a bad day. Really bad. Like, super-atomic-wedgie-on-a-flagpole bad."

She flung the drawer shut upon finding that there was nothing of interest, before moving on to the drawer beneath. The sound of scratchy-pen-on-paper was again heard.

"_What'd you do this time, Yuffie?"_ Aerith sighed, already expecting a far-fetched answer.

"You know that guy I like, right," Yuffie picked out a sharp metal knife from the mess in the drawer, "Hey, I wondered where my kunai went!—Erm, anyways. Well, I thought I would help him out, y'know? He likes riding that motorcycle a lot, right? So, I thought I would clean it for him."

"_Uh huh,"_ Aerith muttered into the phone, _"And what do you mean by clean, exactly?"_

Yuffie shut the drawer and moved on to her lopsided bookcase, dusty children's books lining the bottom shelves, while unread books of the recommended college reading list were piled haphazardly at the top. Dark nooks and crannies littered the shelf space, and she began to rummage through the holes in bored interest.

"I mean, like, well—I meant to…hmm. What the hell? There's a tortilla in my bookshelf," Yuffie delicately picked up the rock-hard shell, examining the strange, dust covered surface, where some peculiar bite marks aligned to form large circle eyes and an almost demonic-looking grin, "And it's smiling at me. Ugh—Anyways. I did try to clean his motorcycle when he wasn't around. I thought it would be super nice if he came out to find a nice shiny motorcycle waiting for him!"

Aerith 'hmmed' while the grating pen-on-paper noise began anew. She had the distinct impression that there was more to the story, and that Yuffie was probably giving her the very watered-down version of the tale. She waited expectantly for Yuffie to further her explanation.

"It…didn't work out that well."

Yuffie remained quiet for a long time after this statement.

"_What happened?"_ Aerith asked, almost sounding impatient and yet not, because it was just _impossible_ for someone like Aerith to be anything but eternally patient and kind.

Yuffie bit her lip, wondering if it was a good idea to confide in Aerith, whom she had only known for about eight months now. The thought had never occurred to her that Aerith might not care about her romantic woes. Then she wondered why she had started to question how much her friends actually cared about her life when she had always assumed they'd listen and pay attention, no matter what. She decided to bite the bullet anyway.

"I accidentally scraped it up. Pretty badly," She wouldn't say that she had done it on purpose, not even for someone like Aerith, "He found out."

Aerith heaved a long sigh of exasperation into the phone, _"Yuffie…"_

"Oh, Aerith!!! What am I gonna do?! My parents aren't going to pay for it and he's gonna _hate me_! Forever! I ruined his precious! _His _PRECIOUS!!!"

Yuffie began to hyperventilate, stopping her sifting through another pile of junk that had culminated in a long forgotten corner of her room.

"_Calm down, Yuffie! It can't be that bad. He'll forgive you eventually."_

"No, he won't! You should have seen the way he was glaring at me, I thought I was going to spontaneously combust! Not only that, but I'm gonna have to pay for the new paint job. _Out of my own pocket_."

The phrase was spoken ominously.

"_That's not too bad."_

"I don't believe you grasp the gravity of the situation," Yuffie rolled her eyes, her panic attack promptly forgotten, "_Out of my own pocket._ Aerith, I don't have any pockets!"

The scratching of a pen was again audible over the phone. Aerith gave a light laugh when Yuffie gave an aggravated growl at the pink woman's supposed ignorance of the situation.

"_Why don't you get a job? And, what exactly are you doing right now? It sounds like a construction site in your room."_

"A job?!" Yuffie squawked indignantly at the thought, trying to kick away the monstrous avalanche of assorted crap and useless junk that had just fallen on top of her after she had foolishly opened her closet door. "As if!"

She pulled herself up from her fallen position within the debris, the faint voice of her mother rising from the lower story of the house, shouting at her to keep the noise volume to a minimum. She glanced down warily at the mess on her floor.

"Ooooh," She squealed, lifting an unopened bag of gummy paupu fruit bites from the disastrous pile at her feet, "I can't believe I haven't eaten these yet!"

"_Yuffie?"_ Aerith muttered uncertainly into the phone, _"Are you exploring your room again while talking on the phone? You really shouldn't. Remember what happened last time?"_

"Ah, but Aerith," Yuffie whined around a mouthful of the gummy paupu sweets, "It's so boring to just sit and talk on the phone."

"_So you decide to destroy your room?"_

"I find a lot of cool stuff, thank you very much!" Yuffie pouted. She popped a few more treats into her mouth before asking, "What am I gonna do?"

"_About what?" _Aerith thought that they had already cleared up the situation with the bike.

"About _him_," Yuffie let out a depressed sigh.

Aerith 'hmmed' thoughtfully, taking a few moments of consideration before stating, _"Maybe you shouldn't think about it for a while. You just don't sound like you when you're talking about 'him,' whoever he may be."_

Yuffie hadn't given her confidant any indication as to who her crush (Yuffie claimed that he was more than a crush, probably the love of her life) was, and had only fed Aerith minute details about him. The woman was constantly aggravated by the lack of information on this man who had enraptured Yuffie, and who was the constant subject of all of Yuffie's conversations nowadays.

"I…maybe," Yuffie muttered thoughtfully.

"_C'mon, Yuffie. Forget about him for a while. Let's just talk about something else, like Leon's scar or aliens and monsters, or whatever. It'll do you good to get your mind off it. Then, maybe later, you'll think of a way to snag 'im,"_ Aerith smiled into the phone.

Yuffie laughed and nodded, though the other woman couldn't see her; she doubted that that would be what happened. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get her mind off Cloud, and she probably wouldn't be able to think of anything to get Cloud to notice her. Her heart panged deeply within her chest, the smile on her face wavering until it withered into a thin line.

"Okay…"

For the next three hours, Yuffie chatted amicably with Aerith on the overheated portable phone, pacing her chaotic room and upsetting about a dozen other piles of junk. She laughed at Aerith's not-very-funny jokes and talked about her week, like nothing was wrong and she could easily shut out all her thoughts and problems like closing an open window, stopping the tide of her emotions from running past.

She wondered if this was what it was like to be normal. Normal as in what other teenagers did, make stupid jokes and laugh at nothing and pretend that everything was okay when in actuality things were very, very wrong.

It was towards the end of her and Aerith's phone conversation, when the poor, overused portable was beeping plaintively from an almost dead battery, that she realized something was astray.

It hit her like a brick wall, while her cracked and tired voice bid goodnight to Aerith, that she never thought about things or others being normal, and that she, currently, was not in such a state. She had always known what to do, uncertainty being a foreign word in her vocabulary. Now, she found herself hesitating, looking around, and _seeing_.

Was this what Cloud was doing to her? Her head grew dizzy at the thought of the blond, dazzling blue eyes flashing in her vision.

At these thoughts she crawled into bed and shivered, trying to unsuccessfully remove the man from her mind's eye.

Something was changing, shifting and staggering out of place. It scared Yuffie, especially since she realized that it, in fact, wasn't the thought of Cloud doing this to her, but something else entirely. It seemed to have started a while ago, creeping along, millimeters at a time; it was only now that she turned around and could see that whatever the incomprehensible change was, the awareness of her situation, though she wasn't quite sure what exactly that was yet, had moved beyond repairable or understandable borders.

She quietly gripped her rumpled, green bed sheets. Her chest ached and she felt a terrible, crushing loneliness settle around her like a shroud. It was bad, she realized, to feel this way, that these thoughts should never be uttered to another.

Yuffie desperately grabbed for a hand, something warm and solid, and found only cold, empty space where the body of another with dazzling blue eyes could have been. The loneliness pulsed around her, and she sobbed.

**-x.-X-.x-**

"There's a tortilla in my bookshelf and it's smiling at me."

This is hands down my favorite quote of the chapter. Someone really should go out onto a crowded street and shout this phrase.

Don't expect anymore quick updates like this, of this length. I thought this chapter would be a maximum of two pages, and here it sits at five-and-a-half. I'll try harder to not make it so long. I think my depressing thoughts are coming out in Yuffie. Sorry if she seems OOC. Also, sorry if Aerith is OOC, I've never really written her character. I'm trying really hard to add a lot of detail to my writing, to kind of give the illusion of being there, so, sorry if everything is a bit long-winded. Please tell me if the details I include are annoying or not, I'd like to know if I'm doing it right.

This story is actually kind of fun to write, really very therapeutic, so this will probably be plaguing anyone who's put me on their author alert list for a while. And, sorry that there isn't a lot of Cloud yet, this fic is centered mainly around Yuffie and the struggles she goes through to try and reach out to Cloud. I won't say whether or not she'll get her wish, but for anyone who still believes in dreams coming true, the answer should be fairly obvious.

I'll try and to get a couple more chapters typed up over spring break and post them; it should be fairly easy since it only takes about four or five hours to type up a chapter to this story (which is fairly quick compared to my other fics, which mostly span out into the 4,000 to 7,000 word range and take days to complete). I'll try hard to maintain this story!

I feel like I'm forgetting something, but I'm not sure what. Anyways, happy spring break, and please review! The DayDreaming out!

P.S.: Whoever spots the Lord of the Rings reference first gets the next chapter dedicated to him or her. The quiz from the first chapter is still open for guessing and the prize, also!


	3. to be spastic in a cafe

**At a Walking Pace**

By: The DayDreaming

Warnings: AU Total ignorance of how a café actually works, work setting, and the employee hierarchy. Cash register abuse. Disco nametags. Sugar cookies, the _evil_ bastards. Yuffie should learn to be subtle.

Summary: AU "Hello, Yuffie." Yuffie never believed there was anyone quite as unattainable as Cloud. He was a distant star, and she was microscopic space dust on the bottom of his shoe. But she was still foolish enough to fight for a happy ending. YuffiexCloud, Zemyx, one-sided YuffiexZexion

_This chapter has not been edited for mistakes. If there are any, please notify me and I'll try to rectify the situation whenever I get off my lazy ass._

____________________**-x.-X-.x-**____________________

_chapter three_: **to be spastic in a café**

____________________**-x.-X-.x-**____________________

"Hello, my name is: **YUFFIE**"

The garish nametag, perhaps one of the most hideous she had ever seen, kept pushing itself into her line of peripheral vision. The presence of the tag was incredibly distracting; the sparkling silver and daisy yellow palette made for a painful eyesore, as well as the fact that the plate was about six inches by seven inches, taking up half of her chest area. More annoying was the glitter encrusted ink composing her name in broad print. Never had Yuffie loathed her own name so much.

She fiddled with the nametag absently, wishing that she could stab the cold, metal rectangle repeatedly, or bash over the head whoever the sonofabitch was that created the evil clothing accessory. Nametag aside though, what she was doing presently wasn't that bad.

She had figured that working at NeverWas Café would be the worst kind of mental and physical torture she had ever experienced in her life (not that she had experienced much), but quickly found that it wasn't that bad, well, for now, at least.

The café wasn't very populated, having only ever had, in Yuffie's limited amount of experience, a grand total of three different patrons at any one time within the small shop's interior. This made for easy work, especially since Yuffie had absolutely no idea how to work a coffeemaker, and it took a bit longer than molasses for her to produce a single cup of caffeine from the mysterious device. Currently, she was standing idly behind the café's sole cash register, cleaning the already sparkling faux-wood counter, lest Saix spot her not working. The man would go ballistic if he spotted a person just lazing about; even patrons weren't spared from his wrath, and the gouge marks in the table where a poor, ignorant, teenage girl had loitered for a couple minutes to chat on her pink, well-used cellphone, after finishing her latte, were extremely visible from Yuffie's vantage point.

NeverWas employed only four people: Pence, a stocky youth that worked part-time, handling the cash register and making coffee (and also acting as the store's accountant, since he was a genius with numbers); Xaldin, the resident 'chef,' if he could be considered such, as he baked the sweets the small shop served to most of its customers; Saix, an antagonistic man that was incredibly anal, and whom Yuffie believed was having a love affair with the café's owner; and then Yuffie herself, resident newb and total klutz, and, apparently, housemaid, since all she ever really did was clean up the shop and wash dishes.

All in all, the place wasn't that horrible to work at, since the staff could be ignored easily, and the pay was extremely nice, considering how little work she actually did.

At the moment, the only people present in the shop were Saix, who was in the back, doing Ansem-knows-what, herself, and a sickly office worker, currently nursing a small, plastic bowl of soup in his shaky hands. It was, in a word, boring.

When Aerith had advised her to get a job, she had fought against the idea with all her might, even going so far as to consider telling her parents about the 'accidental' scrape on the neighbor's bike that she had volunteered to pay for, just so that she wouldn't have to come up with the money herself. She decided that it was a bad idea though, and had applied for a job secretly. She wasn't sure how much a paint-job cost, but she didn't want to ask Cloud and bring up the touchy subject with said stoic man, just in case he decided that using her as a punching bag would be a good enough payment (Yuffie was sure that Cloud wouldn't do anything of the sort, but she had learned from experience that making assumptions, especially about the behaviors of people who were angry with her, just didn't pan out); Yuffie would just keep working until she figured that she had repaid her debt.

Yuffie moved to the other side of the counter, making to wipe down the tables again (though no one had sat at them for the entire day, Yuffie needed to look like she was busy, and relieve some boredom; the poor counter would probably have a hole worn through it with how much she was cleaning it), when she saw a flash of blond hair round the corner outside the shop. It was almost instinctual; her body froze up for an instant before she sprung into action with a strangled squawk, leaping the counter and accidentally banging her leg against the hard, old-fashioned cash register. She skittered across the stone tile of the shop floor, looking around frantically for salvation, before spotting an open, dark space right under the aforementioned register. She crashed into the tiny space, wedging herself tightly into the child-size hole, holding her breath.

Seconds passed before a jingle was heard emanating from the front of the shop, where the bells attached to the door swayed lightly at the intrusion of a new customer into the depths of NeverWas Café. Yuffie tensed, praying to any and all gods that the person striding across the room towards the serving counter was not who she believed him to be.

Another bell rang, right over her head, coming slightly from the right, asking for assistance. A few seconds passed, perhaps some of the longest in Yuffie's life. Suddenly, Saix's thick boots clomped across the floor to stand in front of her position under the counter, his pseudo-cordial voice greeting the new customer before asking him what he wanted.

"Black coffee, strong. And a…sugar cookie."

Yuffie could have choked, half in shock and fear, and half in laughter. The voice most definitely belonged to none other than Cloud Strife, the man of her dreams. Her heart beat faster, face reddening, at the mere thought of the man hovering inches away from her, separated only by a cheap layer of fake wood. The thought that Cloud had a sweet tooth did nothing to calm her down, as the thought of the stoic Cloud chewing some of Xaldin's heart-attack-inducing cookies was almost too much to bear; she started to tremble at the effort of holding in her giggles.

Saix, meanwhile, had proceeded to pour the man a cup of lukewarm coffee in a thin, plastic cup, and wrap a large cookie in wax paper, before also handing the confection to the patron. Yuffie was starting to feel cramped in the dark space while waiting for Cloud to hand over his money and leave, letting out a sigh of relief when the bell to the front entrance rang again, signaling his departure.

"Hello, Yuffie."

Yuffie yelped as Saix's blue-haired head appeared in her vision. She banged her head on the bottom of the counter, scrambling to move out of the space. Saix also moved, vacating his previous spot to avoid Yuffie's reckless scuttle.

His eyes pierced into her, and Yuffie stood stock still in the middle of her frantic hustle, receiving the distinct impression that she was staring at a feral wolf.

She scratched the back of her head in embarrassment, fingers twitching nervously, "G-Good afternoon sir. Uh, nice weather we're having, huh? You know, I was ju—"

Saix grunted, interrupting Yuffie's barely begun rant. He glanced at her previous hiding place, then at her, the front entrance to the café, back to the hidey-hole, and then finally rested his gaze on her red face. She was about to speak again, but clamped her mouth shut at his suspicious glare.

The blue-haired man 'tch'ed, before crossing his arms over his chest, "There's something wrong with you."

He left with those words, stepping lightly past her to go to the back of the shop. Yuffie sighed in relief for a second time, having narrowly, she thought, escaped certain death. If Cloud was intimidating to be stared at by, than Saix was outright aggressive; a simple look from him could make one feel like he or she was about to implode. That might be why the café wasn't that popular: half the staff was crazy, and made people want to stab their own eyes out (could Xemnas be included as staff? The café owner was an absolute madman. She was sure that every time Xemnas spoke, a kitten died somewhere). She wholly believed that she was not at all insane (others would disagree).

Having stared into space for about five minutes, deeply lost in her Saix-induced ponderings, Yuffie suddenly snapped out of her reverie when the sickly businessman walked out of the café hurriedly, slightly creeped out by the demented teenage girl gazing dazedly at the wall behind him from across the room.

Yuffie sighed as she leaned against the forever trusty counter, dreamy eyes blinking in rapture at her inner thoughts.

"He likes sugar cookies…" She suddenly squealed in joy before twirling out from behind the counter to clean the previously forgotten tables.

Saix stared at her from the open doorway leading to the back room of the shop. He shook his head in disdain and embarrassment at the display.

"There is seriously something wrong with her…" He grumbled.

**-x.-X-.x-**

The next day, Cloud was puzzled to find a tin of cheap sugar cookies lying outside his house's front door. He was puzzled at the strange appearance, but gave the treats to one of his housemates, Axel, who was absolutely delighted at the anonymous show of kindness.

Axel always asked Cloud to bring home a sugar cookie when he went out to that little NeverWas Café, they were his absolute favorite. Cloud himself detested the round confections.

Sometimes, Cloud wished that a plate of chocolate chip cookies could randomly appear at his front door. He thought he might just fall in love with whoever the kind stranger was.

**-x.-X-.x-**

Poor Yuffie. Not only are you considered mentally unstable by, perhaps, one of the craziest and most bipolar men in existence, now you just wasted the money you were supposed to be saving up for Cloud's bike on Axel, of all people.

I hope I characterized Saix alright; I've never done anyone like him before. Many portray him as psychotic, but, to me, he seemed like he was this very sadistic-but-reserved person in KH. I'm a bit confused; could anyone clarify this for me?

This might be the last frequent update for a while, as Spring Break is coming to a close. Does this fic already seem like it's going nowhere? Good, I was thinking that, too. I'm going to spend some time figuring out where I want this story to go before my next update, you know that weird, outlandish thing they call 'planning?' I shudder to think of the consequences of this action.

A very big thank you to my two reviewers, KaikaiPANTS and Sponge of Horrors, who are both fabulous people. If you like Clouffie, go visit their stories Emotions of the Heart and Yellow Haze! They're fantastic.

I believe that's all, though I still feel like I'm forgetting something. Oh well. Please review! The DayDreaming out!


	4. to be met with the old and grow anew

**At a Walking Pace**

By: The DayDreaming

Warnings: AU Kind of a filler chapter? Demyx appears and talks about the degradation of society. Remember to clip your Saïx's nails every six weeks.

Summary: AU "Hello, Yuffie." Yuffie never believed there was anyone quite as unattainable as Cloud. He was a distant star, and she was microscopic space dust on the bottom of his shoe. But she was still foolish enough to fight for a happy ending. YuffiexCloud, Zemyx, one-sided YuffiexZexion

_This chapter has not been edited for mistakes. If there are any, please notify me and I'll try to rectify the situation whenever I get off my lazy ass._

____________________**-x.-X-.x-**____________________

_chapter four_: **to be met with the old and grow anew**

____________________**-x.-X-.x-**____________________

It had to have been the absolute muggiest day of the year, Demyx was sure. The air tasted of sweat and hot brick, making his tongue stick dryly to the hard palate in his mouth, swollen and lazy. He was sure he would melt into a puddle of musician-flavored goop eventually; his fingers already seemed to have melded to the scorching glass table top situated outside of a quaint (read: run-down) café.

How was it that, despite the fact that the table came equipped with a gigantic umbrella, none of the shade that umbrellas allegedly provide seemed to fall on him? Demyx had, by now, made several rotations around the small table in desperate hope of receiving some much wanted relief from the sun. Though generally in a good mood (read: always), Demyx found himself aggravated beyond belief. Who actually liked this weather?

Surely the tourists, those clueless dolts, he answered his own question. He eyed a happy couple, young lovers: a girl scantily clad in a two piece, with more oil on her than a fast-food restaurant fryer, walking alongside a bleach-blond boy with washboard abs and a tooth-paste commercial smile that belied his wandering hands. They held hands and acted as if the world didn't matter. Really though, no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't make themselves look happy.

Demyx scowled. He hated people like that. Young and superficial; the girl wanted to make all of her friends jealous with her easy catch and supposed-to-be story-book ending while the guy wanted a good lay and a face to boast to his buddies about while they all drank like fishes and smoked themselves to oblivion.

Gods, he thought to himself, the youth of today are all a bunch of whores and druggies.

Well, it would have been 'thought to himself,' if it weren't for the fact that he said it aloud, chin just as much glued to the table as his fingers and forearms.

The couple, who had still been in hearing-distance and were pretending that they were the best looking things around while commenting on all the 'peons' in stage-whispers, turned around and shot him dirty looks. The boy (because really, he couldn't be called a man; he was, after all, lacking in a few departments) looked like he was ready to stomp over to him, and teach him a lesson. Demyx snorted and glared right back, eyes dull, while he peeled a sticky arm away from the table-top and lightly gripped the black, classical guitar leaning on an adjacent table, a plucked string sounding ominously (1).

The boy backed down, giving one final glare before turning and tromping down the street; all the while his girl friend yammered on about the 'toad-faced mullet guy.'

"So, I see you still haven't fixed that little problem with thinking aloud, huh?"

Demyx turned to see none other than Yuffie standing behind him, cheesy grin spread across her face. She could have looked like a superhero with her short black hair and yellow scarf waving in the sudden breeze. He supposed she had always seemed that way to him; like a hero of sorts, or, at least, an anti-hero.

"Oh…Hey, Yuff," He smiled up at her, eyes trailing over the large, garish nametag pinned to the pseudo-belt that helped to hold up her tank top. His eyes burned just looking at the name-bearing plate.

"What's wrong, cat got your tongue?" She asked, pulling up a seat beside the musician, metal chair grating across the small patio's smooth cement.

"Heh," he looked towards her, a charming smile gracing his lips, "More like Ifrit."

After that quip, all conversation seemed to die down. Normally, this would have been impossible for the duo, but ever since that time…

They hadn't spoken to each other for almost a year now. This occasion would mark the first syllables uttered unto each other in ten months. It almost felt like they had forgotten how to speak that secret and private language shared between them, or, used to be shared, anyways. The secret words and phrases used when they didn't want prying ears to understand, or wanted to be silly.

Demyx fidgeted; suddenly the sun seemed more intense, the heat unbearable. Maybe it wouldn't have been so bad to melt into a puddle of musician-flavored goop right now.

He glanced over and saw Yuffie looking out into the street, sweat already beading across her brow while she held a contemplative frown, subconsciously and ineffectually scrubbing at her sweat-dampened chin.

He decided to break the tense silence, growing wary of Yuffie's general out-of-characterness: "So, how have you been?"

It was a loaded question; something that could have been said with a bit more tact, but for lack of better words could _only_ be said that way.

"Okay, I guess," Yuffie immediately replied, looking away from her trance-induced staring at a lamppost. "Classes have been going okay. I've really improved my close combat skills, and well, everything else."

Demyx forced a smile, and continued his questioning when he realized that Yuffie had nothing else to say, "That's good. Are you working here?"

Yuffie subconsciously looked towards her place of work and nodded, "Yeah. It's okay, but Saïx can be a real pain in the ass, y'know?"

After saying that, she quickly looked around, almost paranoid that Saïx could hear her bad-mouthing him.

"Ha, I thought you said you would never get a job as a lowly waitress, oh Great Ninja Yuffie," Demyx smirked at her. Yuffie's eyes bugged out at the jibe, before taking on a cheeky grin.

"Oh yeah? Well, this is only a temporary inconvenience. As soon as I've finished saving up for that paint job, I'm out of here and on to bigger and better things!"

She said it with utmost conviction, thumbing her nose as though it would prove her point.

"Maybe I should call you the Great Waitress Yuffie in the meantime, eh?"

She growled and smacked him upside the head, "Don't you dare desecrate my name like that! It took a very long time to come up with that title, and—" here she looked around, paranoid again, "If anyone hears you say that, I'll never hear the end of it!"

She narrowed her eyes menacingly while she shook her head, index finger carving a slow, invisible line across her neck.

Demyx laughed; Yuffie looked more like a fish than anything menacing or threatening, "You haven't changed a bit."

She stopped and looked at him, something flickering in her eyes before it disappeared. A grin broke out across her face and she suddenly tackled him, head locking him into a noogie.

"Ah, ah stop! Stop! Not the hair! Don't mess it up!"

Yuffie didn't cease, continuing the onslaught until Demyx knocked her off with a well-aimed kick.

"You haven't changed, either! You're still crazy about your stupid hair," She gasped between guffaws. She sat on the too-hot concrete of the NeverWas café while Demyx tidied his sandy-blond locks back into a presentable mulhawk.

After getting a final few belly-laughs out, the tension in the air seemed to dissipate, leaving the two to feel slightly more welcome towards each other. It had been forever since they had acted so carefree around each other.

In fact, it had been a long time since Yuffie had laughed like that at all. It was stupid, really. It wasn't that funny; after all, hadn't Demyx just insulted her? Well, actually, it had been what he said after that comment that had done it. It felt like a switch, a cutting of taught cables that released a load of pent up emotion. Why did it feel like freedom and acceptance?

In the back of her mind, Yuffie was chanting that it was alright, that everything was okay now that Demyx was back.

Truthfully, Demyx had never been gone. He had always been here, sitting and sleeping and eating in the same house, playing the same songs, walking the same streets, living and breathing in the same city and world. But it had felt like Demyx was worlds apart from her.

She wanted to ask, where did you go, but refrained, knowing that he would only give her a funny look and ask her if she was feeling okay.

She wondered why they had grown so far apart in the first place. Had it all really been because of a stupid argument? Well, argument_s_? Okay, World Title Wrestling matches? Yuffie looked over at her companion, wondering if he was thinking what she was thinking. Probably not, she supplied in her mind.

It had all really started, she supposed, at the beginning of senior year. This was the time when sane high school students (like Demyx and Yuffie) were thinking about where to go after they finished school. There was only one option for the duo, who had been friends since the fifth grade. Or, at least, that was what they thought, if it hadn't been for the fact that they had entirely different options in mind.

Demyx wanted to go to the local university for theater and fine arts, Valefor School for the Fine Arts. Demyx claimed, after all, that he was a musician, and wanted to pursue his dream of becoming a great composer, perhaps even playing for Hollow Bastion's king, Ansem the Wise, some day. Valefore was a highly respected school, and he was sure that with enough practice and hard work he could make it to the top.

On the other hand, Yuffie, a warrior at heart, or so she said, wanted nothing more than to go to another famous, local university: Bahamut University. Acclaimed as one of the best academies in the worlds for the learning of all trades dealing in battle and mechanics, Bahamut was Yuffie's dream school. It was here that she could prove her worth in battle, and show her father that she was worthy of the Kisaragi name.

Upon realizing the two, very different, paths that they wanted to walk, the two's relationship had started to crumble. Throughout their senior year, Demyx and Yuffie had been at odds, constantly arguing about which school the other should go to. Hadn't they promised to go together, would always be the turning point in the arguments, when one would smack the other and it no longer was an argument but a death match.

Their biggest fight, and final one, had been at the beginning of April, right about the time when college applications for most schools would be returned and answered. No replies from Valefor or Bahamut had come as of yet, and Yuffie was waiting in antsy anticipation by the mailbox for the postman to come. Demyx had walked by, still fuming from their last argument the other day.

It had started with an exchange of greetings before spiraling into a flaming catastrophe. Yuffie had told him who she was waiting for and why. Demyx had said that he was going to the clock tower (2) to play his sitar. Come with me, he said, it's no use waiting around here for something that won't come. Because it just so happened that Bahamut was also one of the hardest schools to get accepted to. That had been the start of one of the shortest arguments in Yuffie's life.

_What makes you think Valefor will accept you?_

_Because. They would have accepted you, too, if you didn't have to be so gung-ho about stabbing things for a living (3)._

These weren't new insults. They came out, every single time, like breathing air. But it was what was said at the very end that made everything fall to pieces.

_Maybe you will, but that doesn't mean you'll go anywhere. You're playing is subpar, and you aren't original._

She wanted to take it back. It wasn't a particularly harsh comment, or even well-worded. But it had hit its mark. Demyx scowled, eyes growing dark. He was furious.

_You will never, either. Your dad's right. You won't amount to anything; you're just being delusional._

And he walked away. Just like that.

About fifteen minutes later, Yuffie still stood next to the rusting mailbox, staring down at the empty space that once held her best friend. A part of her was angry, and felt terribly betrayed. It was such a low blow to use her father. But another part wondered at the sincerity of his words; he had said it with such conviction. Did he truly mean it?

The postman walked up, right on time, at 4:13 precisely, and deposited a pile of bills and one acceptance letter from Bahamut University neatly onto her shaking hands.

From that day forth, Yuffie didn't speak to Demyx, or he to her. They sat at opposite ends of shared class rooms, averted their gazes from each other in the halls, and ignored each other's very existence.

Looking at it now, Yuffie felt so very foolish.

"I'msorry," she said, too quickly for him to hear.

He turned to her, eyes questioning, "What?"

Yuffie chewed her lip indecisively before vaulting onto the taller teen, hugging him tightly, "I said, 'I'm sorry.' For everything. I didn't mean it, any of it."

Demyx was stunned. Yuffie had just been standing there, staring at him all starry-eyed, and suddenly she was hugging the breath out of him.

"I-I, uh," He stammered, trying to produce an answer. "I'm…sorry, too?"

Yuffie remained quiet, holding onto him.

"Hey, Yuff, you mind letting go? My vision is starting to go dark," Demyx muttered, embarrassed and bashful at the same time. He really had grown unused to Yuffie's displays of affection over the last year. It felt strange to have people staring at him again, Yuffie by his side (or attached to it, as the case was at this moment).

"Yes, please," A cold and authoritative voice issued from the partially opened front entrance of NeverWas café. "I believe it's time you stop molesting the chest of your…boyfriend, and get back to work."

Yuffie practically flew away from Demyx, stumbling head first over a table and chair, before quickly rising again from the more-than-likely blood-spattered cement floor.

"Ah, Saïx! I mean, sir! Yes, Saïx, er sir Saïx! Ahm, sir!"

She floundered about for a bit, tripping her way over to his side. He watched with a raised eyebrow as her face grew cherry-red, Demyx's taking on a similar flush.

"We, uh, aren't—y'know, ah, together. Uh…" Demyx shrank at the withering glare he received. This Saïx person looked absolutely feral.

"Loiterers," Saïx pointedly looked towards Demyx, "and layabouts," and here, Yuffie, "are not tolerated at this establishment!"

"You," He pointed a suspiciously long but immaculate nail at Demyx, "Leave now."

Demyx nodded hastily, making to pick up his guitar.

"And you," Yuffie cringed, "Get back inside. I'm docking your pay. There is a floor that I want to be clean enough to eat off of before the end of the day."

"Yes, sir," She muttered sullenly. Saïx eyed the pair one more time before turning and leaving, more likely than not going to sharpen his claws for the next person to step out of line and displease him (read: Pence).

Yuffie grinned sheepishly at Demyx, all familiarity returned now that things had been forgiven between them, "See what I mean? I told you he was a pain in the ass."

"YUFFIE!" The muffled shout from within the café jolted her and she looked about again, paranoid.

"I see you have to go. Well, I should, too," Demyx scratched his head, still a bit fearful of Saïx's wrath, "We'll catch up later, okay?"

"Yeah," Yuffie confirmed, "See ya."

Demyx walked away from the café patio, ten-stringed guitar in hand. Yuffie watched him leave and smiled; she felt better than she had in a long time.

She walked back into the dark, cool interior of NeverWas. Saïx was probably blowing a gasket; she could hear faint shouting at the back of the small coffee house, most likely Pence getting chewed out for not facing the money in the cash box.

But Saïx couldn't dampen her mood, not today. For once, Yuffie did not have Cloud Strife on her mind, and instead tried to remember, down to the very last detail, all of the year's adventures so she would be ready to tell Demyx the next time they met.

Outside, the muggy air grew heavier, and the bright, stifling sun was shrouded by dark, ebon clouds. Like a breath, the heat dissipated and it poured.

**-x.-X-.x-**

(1) I know he has a sitar. But to go along with my plot, he also plays other instruments. It's not a far-fetched idea, at least I think, anyways. Oh, and a classical guitar is basically a guitar with ten strings, as opposed to the modern classical guitar, which has six strings. I think, anyway. I'm not an expert; I'm only skimming this off of Wikipedia.

(2) I believe Hollow Bastion would have a clock tower, somewhere. When they're in the process of rebuilding Ansem's castle, it looks a lot like clockwork in the front part. And, I just like the motif of clocks.

(3) Though it is explained later, I'll just say this now, so as to avoid confusion. Yuffie can play an instrument; Demyx taught her how, and that's why he wanted her to go to Valefor with him.

**-x.-X-.x-**

Whoa, I'm tired. Longest chapter yet at six full pages, for this story. It could be much longer, I've written up to nineteen pages for one chapter of another story, but I'm really not trying for length in this story.

I feel like I haven't gotten anything done in this chapter. Oh well. I've got a basic outline for the first couple parts of this story written out. School totally kicked my ass, but it's summer, so I'll try to update at least every week. I would have updated last week, but my dad was home, and my parents tend to like to snoop. So, if my parents aren't home, I'll type as much as I can.

Anyone else think this chapter is incredibly cheesy and not very well written? I've lost my writing ability again, it seems. I'm not fond of this chapter, it's really just filler, but I felt that I needed to establish some grounds as to where this story stands universe-wise. You can kind of get an idea about the story setting.

I'm forgetting something again, but I don't know what. My eyes are bleeding, I can't read anymore. I should go mop the floor. Please review! The DayDreaming out!


	5. to be taking 1 step forward 2 steps back

**At a Walking Pace**

By: The DayDreaming

Warnings: AU Hey there, Delilah! Crotchety old women, 3rd-degree burns, and smashed cookies. Poor humor and crappy writing beware.

Summary: AU "Hello, Yuffie." Yuffie never believed there was anyone quite as unattainable as Cloud. He was a distant star, and she was microscopic space dust on the bottom of his shoe. But she was still foolish enough to fight for a happy ending. YuffiexCloud, Zemyx, one-sided YuffiexZexion

_This chapter has not been edited for mistakes. If there are any, please notify me and I'll try to rectify the situation whenever I get off my lazy ass._

____________________**-x.-X-.x-**____________________

_chapter five_: **to be taking one step forward and two steps back**

____________________**-x.-X-.x-**____________________

"Hello…Yuffie…? Well, that's a funny name. Almost like stuffy, or, or fluffy! Or…"

"…"

"I have a niece named Susie. Why, it's almost exactly the same! You should meet her sometime, you know. She's darling. Of course, you'd have to put on more…ahem, _modest_ clothing. _Kids these days…_"

"…"

Yuffie gave a tight smile, remaining silent as the woman, probably around her late fifties, continued to babble away at the counter. Her face most likely looked like she had swallowed something unsavory, but the woman, Delilah, as she introduced herself a couple seconds later, seemed to take no notice and, instead, smiled an even wider smile, right incisor smeared red from an overzealous application of lipstick.

"And, Yuffie, you should _know_ that youth doesn't last forever. I mean, look at me! But, at least I made something out of my life! And here you are, behind a cash register, of all places! Aren't your parents ashamed? You should be going to school, a fine university! You seem charismatic Yuffie; you could go to wonderful places! And I should know! I…"

Well, for one thing, Yuffie agreed that her youth wouldn't last forever, and this woman wasn't helping matters. For another, her parents didn't even realize she had a job in the first place. If she told them, they would, more likely than not, take it as a joke and laugh her out of the room. And then! How dare this Delilah woman assume she didn't go to school?! On second thought, she wondered if her parents even realized she was going to one of the most prestigious universities in the world.

"Oh, and the _cankles_, my dear! I don't have any, thank goodness, but my mother did! And she didn't even realize it; she was always wearing these lace-up high-heels. My goodness, it looked like some trussed up pork, or such! As I always like to say, Yuffie, keep your body well maintained, take note of everything! Especially the area between your loi…"

Yuffie really just wanted to correct Delilah's constant mispronunciation of her name. It was pronounced like a 'you,' not a 'yuh (1).' And was she really talking about what she thought she was talking about?!

"…the boys are always so nasty, and you young girls are just _so_ vulnerable! They're diseased! If you ever find yourself in a situation where you _think_ you might have something, have it checked imme—"

"Ahm, ma'am! Uh, what would you like…?" Yuffie really did not want that sentence to continue. With the rate this woman was going, she would probably jump to "pointers from an old pro" eventually.

"Wha—Oh, oh! I completely forgot! Dear, where is my head today? I just get so _engrossed_…"

Delilah tapped her chin, long nail digging a clean crescent onto her heavily painted lip, "What was the question…?"

"Your order, ma'am," Yuffie tightened her smile further. Finally, they were getting somewhere.

"Right! Right…" Delilah looked up at the overhanging board, which listed all of NeverWas café's proffered beverages and meals.

"Uhhh, ahm…Mmm…Huh," She began to twist an over-curled lock of thin, red-dyed hair.

You have got to be kidding me, Yuffie thought sullenly. Delilah was beginning to shuffle from side-to-side, indecision clearly written on her face.

Yuffie glanced around the empty café. No one was there at the moment, so she couldn't use the excuse of checking on some other customer while waiting out the ravages of time for this woman to decide on whether or not she wanted her caffeinated beverage frothy or some other crap. And, if Saïx caught her attempting to ignore a customer, she would be fired or worse (worse probably being flung in some kind of canal, dead and naked to never be found. This was the more likely scenario if Saïx was involved).

"…Ma'am, may I suggest the—"

"Shh, shh! I'm thinking dear."

"……:(…"

Yuffie peered towards the heavens. Did I do something to piss someone off, she wondered. If I did, I'm sorry! Please! I'll do anything, just make her decide!

"Aha!"

Yuffie ceased her silent prayer and looked towards Delilah in anticipation. Was this it?

"Ahm…Hm, no."

"How about—"

"Ah, ah. I've got this one."

After a time span of about fifteen minutes, Delilah finally gave a large smile and nodded her head, as if affirming and solidifying the idea in her mind.

"I've made up my mind," She stated, leaning close over the counter, as if it were a conspiracy to have finally made a decision after only twenty minutes of deep contemplation. Yuffie quickly hid the knife she had been considering using for something other than its intended purpose of cutting slices of butter.

"Ah, yes ma'am," Yuffie smiled forcibly. All she really wanted to do was flip the woman off and kick her out of the cruddy establishment, "What would you like?"

"Black coffee, three spoonfuls of sugar, if you would," Delilah immediately replied.

Yuffie felt a strange twitching sensation arise under her left eye, so she quickly turned around, muttering a "right away" before walking a ways away from the counter to where the old, abused percolator rested on its last legs. Apparently, the poor coffee maker had been employed since Xemnas', the owner of NeverWas, birth, which, for all Yuffie knew about the man with his _long_ silver hair and old-man voice and etiquette, could have been when dinosaurs still roamed the canyons of Hollow Bastion.

As she waited for the old machine to putter to a stop (it couldn't really be considered puttering, for there were several explosions of scalding coffee from the half-clogged dispensing nozzle involved), Delilah proceeded to hum a tune that sounded strangely similar to a very popular rock song that had been playing on the radio only a few minutes before.

As Yuffie finally poured the coffee into a to-go cup (she hoped to any and all gods that this woman was, in fact, leaving. She hadn't heard the woman say anything about it, but Yuffie wasn't in the mood to continue the conversation from earlier), she decided that a small retribution was in order; in the hopes that the woman would think that NeverWas was so awful she would never return. She proceeded to pour in a spoonful of sugar, followed by two, very large, spoons of coffee grounds.

She quickly mixed this concoction up and handed it to the woman, who proceeded to smile and babble on again about something or other as she pulled a fifty-munny note (2) from her small purse and placed it on the counter before walking slowly towards the door. Yuffie only smiled and waved as the woman finally reached the clear, glass barrier.

"Thank you for the coffee, dear Yuffie," Delilah waved, her hand on the brass knob of the creaky door.

Yuffie nodded, elated that the woman was finally leaving. She looked down and realized that she had forgotten to tell the woman her fee, but then saw the note, and without thinking, "Ma'am, wait! You forgot your change!"

"Wha—Oh!" Delilah turned around from her slow departure, "The change is your tip!"

Delilah hesitated before taking a swig from her coffee cup, smacked her lips, frowned, and then smiled widely, "This coffee is delicious by the way. You deserve every penny. Well, I'll see you tomorrow!"

With that, Delilah finally took her leave. Yuffie was left shell-shocked behind the counter. To begin with, that was the best tip she had ever received in her life. Second, that woman had just thought that coffee grounds in her coffee was the best mixture to ever be drank (Delilah had seemed honest in her response, and genuinely believed that it was good). Finally, that crazy woman had intoned that she would be returning, tomorrow even, and that she would continue to return, for as long as her bony stick legs could carry her through that crappy, tilted door frame.

"Noooo," Yuffie silently whispered, "Frequent customer discooounts."

She quickly decided that she would call in sick tomorrow. Or, pray, in the vain hope that, that woman was so ditzy she would forget about this place by the time she turned the corner down the block. Was it too late to apply somewhere else?

Sinking into a pit of despair, she slammed her head against the counter and let it rest atop the faded, laminated surface. Was this job really necessary? Couldn't she just suck it up and have her parents deal with it?

No, not really. After all, hadn't she taken this job just to avoid that scenario? Her parents absolutely loathed anything that messed with family honor. The mere mention of another 'mishap' could spell expulsion from her only financial support. That, and she reeeally wanted to impress Cloud strife by fixing his bike.

She gave out a long, frustrated sob. She really couldn't stand people like Delilah, no matter how well intentioned they may seem. They were absolutely gullible, and annoying as all hell; the mere sight of a Delilah-esque person had Yuffie itching to pull a prank.

Okay, so maybe that was a bit mean, but really, she was mean to everyone equally. She was, after all, an equal- opportunity prankster. Delilah just happened to be closest on her agenda, at the moment.

"Ahem," A rough voice sounded softly above her head.

"Wha-What?!" Yuffie shot up immediately, looking around wildly incase Saïx was looming around the corner. Upon further investigation, she realized that it was merely a customer. Maybe 'merely' was an understatement, though, as Yuffie's face turned an irrevocable shade of red as the sight of Cloud strife greeted her eyes.

"C-Cloudie! What a surprise! When did you get here?!" Way to play it cool, Yuffster.

The silent man had taken a step back from the counter when it became an almost imminent threat of being hit by one of the cashier's hands in her wild flailing. He raised an inquiring eyebrow, but Yuffie immediately flung her arm about in an overzealous gesture to brush the question off; that, or land a gummi ship.

"Never mind that," Yuffie immediately stopped her spastic waving and instead stood straight, as stiff as a board, a very large, 'welcoming' smile on her face. "What would you like to order?!"

In truth, Saïx had needed to teach her how to greet customers, since Yuffie was absolutely clueless on how to react. He had demonstrated his 'welcoming' smile, as he called it, although to Yuffie it looked more like he was about to eat a baby or some other such cute thing. He had actually made Yuffie practice in front of him for about an hour. The end result wasn't much better than his own. She either managed to make it look like she was chewing on lemon slices, or was criminally insane and was about to murder someone. For some reason, Saïx had approved exclusively of these faces; Yuffie had not a clue as to what they actually looked like.

"I didn't know you worked here," Cloud imparted, taking a quick step away from the scary girl.

"Ah, yes! To pay you back for ruining your bike," She tightened her smile, trying to turn up the old 'Yuffie charm.' This actually had a proven failure rate of 99 point 99 percent. The other point 1 percent went to Delilah, "By-the-by, just how much do I owe you?"

"Ah," Cloud really just wanted to leave the shop now. Would the cashier think it was rude if he stepped out and never came back? "It's about two thousand munny, total. Repay it whenever you have enough."

Cloud looked around uncomfortably when the cashier's smile widened further. Was this person really living next door to him?

Yuffie scrutinized him from her position behind the counter. He was giving her such an icy look. He must be really angry still, Yuffie thought. Why do I have to be sooo stupid and piss everyone off?! She wished she could just turn around and knock herself senseless against the wall, but Saïx would probably be furious if she got blood on the wall.

She lowered her smile until it became a deep frown, mental rainclouds forming around her head.

"You shouldn't smile like that," Cloud intoned, "You're going to break your jaw, or something."

Yuffie shook herself from her pit of self-loathing to look at Cloud. D-Did he actually say something nice to me?!, Yuffie thought, mentally bursting into tears. (Unfortunately, this is not the case. Cloud is merely imparting his facial-structure wisdom upon the ignorant masses. Any and all caring about others implied by this message should be disregarded immediately as coincidental occurrence and not an actual sign of endearment.)

"Black coffee, strong, and a sugar cookie," Cloud stated out of nowhere, popping Yuffie's bubble of bliss.

"What?" She asked. It was evident she hadn't been paying attention, as usual, "For what?"

"My order," He replied, toneless. He wanted to get out of there as soon as possible, and the cashier wasn't helping (3).

A look of realization dawned on Yuffie's face, "Oh, right! Of course!"

Yuffie immediately rushed to the coffee percolator, pouring the still scathing coffee into another to-go cup; much of the liquid ended up landing on her hand and the counter. Upon the realization of the burning sensation on her arm she waved the appendage around, forgetting that this was the same hand holding the half-full coffee cup. Xaldin, who had partially opened the heavy wood door leading into the small kitchen area slightly, to check on what the ruckus was, was almost smacked in the face with the hot coffee-turned-projectile. He slammed the door shut just as it was about to hit, locking the kitchen door quickly afterwards. (May it be noted that Xaldin did not emerge from the kitchen station until Saïx had assured him, five hours later, that Yuffie was nowhere near the coffee machine.)

By now, Cloud was about ready to bolt. The cashier was obviously crazy.

Yuffie looked over, seeing Cloud ready to turn, and reached out her burned hand towards him, "Wait, wait! Don't worry, I've got it!"

Cloud stopped, giving a doubtful glance towards the spilled coffee in the back corner. He mentally sighed, sure that this crazy girl was going to climb in through his window at night and do something weird.

While Cloud was mentally debating, Yuffie had hurriedly poured another cup, having barely enough to hit the mark printed on the inside of the cup that acted as a height-guide. She quickly capped the cheap Styrofoam cup, which bore a printing of a strange, almost phallic symbol with "NeverWas Café" and the street address printed under it.

She rushed this over to the cashier's counter, planting it directly in front of a still mentally-debating Cloud. She then moved behind a large, glass case which displayed several varieties of cookies; grabbing a pair of tongs, she opened the built in door behind the case, fished out a large sugar cookie, and then wrapped it with a procured slip of wax paper.

Having fulfilled the order successfully, she slammed the wrapped cookie down onto the counter in triumph, not minding the fact that the cookie would now be in pieces. As can be safely assumed, Cloud was still arguing with his inner-self on what to do about the crazy café cashier.

Yuffie stood proudly before him, victory pose being executed as she waited for the stoic man before her to take notice of the proffered items. When it became apparent that Cloud wouldn't be snapping out of his deep contemplations any time soon, Yuffie decided to catch his attention herself.

"Ah-hem!"

"…"

"Hey!"

"…"

Yuffie crossed her arms across her chest and huffed noisily. She mentally pleaded that the man she fell in love with wasn't another Delilah-in-the-making.

Yuffie gasped. Was it possible that Cloud, the coolest guy ever to breathe air, was actually a ditzy blond?!

The sudden intake of breath was enough to snap Cloud out of his thoughts. He looked around, realizing where he was. He looked over to see the cashier making some kind of fish-face at him, before he looked down and realized that his order was ready.

He eyed it warily before taking out his wallet and paying with exact change. The cashier perked up and accepted his money, counting out the notes and coins with a deep stare. While she was distracted, Cloud made a quick getaway with his goods (he actually thought that he would make a pretty good ninja with the way he booked it out of there).

"Hey, no tip?!" Yuffie whined. That tip money would have gone to pay off the bill for treatment of the 3rd-degree burns she had received. She looked arounf to locate the blond, but he was nowhere in sight; he had escaped and not even said good-bye. Even if it was Cloud Strife, that was pretty cheap and un-chivalrous of him, Yuffie thought bitterly.

But, as Yuffie thought about it, she had successfully interacted with Cloud! Sure, it was a bit rocky (and painful), but she had managed to not totally freak out on him! This meant that she was one step closer to having Cloud Strife be hers.

Oh, who am I kidding, Yuffie thought sullenly, hanging her head in shame. That was a total disaster, and now he's never going to come back here again, and we'll never talk to each other, and I'll never have little cumulus-shaped babies with him!

The sound of the door opening snapped her out of her brooding. Half-hoping it was Cloud Strife, come back to apologize for being so discourteous to her, she merely saw that it was Squall/Leon.

Wait, Squall?

She reeled back in horror at the sight of man, staring at her oddly from the entrance. Is everyone I know going to pop in here today?!, she panicked.

"Yuffie…?" Squall walked towards her, confusion written on his face. Since when did Yuffie work here, or, for that matter, work at all? He had never even seen her train or study for school, let alone actually hold a job.

"Y-Yeah, Squall?" Yuffie was sweating bullets. Someone must really hate her. I tried so hard to find a place where no one would see me work such a demeaning job, Yuffie mentally sobbed, how the hell do people keep finding me?!

"It's Leon. Do you work here?"

Yuffie pulled herself away from falling into another mental pit of despair, and instead mustered a glare at Squall. "Why do people keep asking me that?! Is it so impossible to believe that I actually have a job?!"

Squall gave her a flat look, "Yes."

"Don't be such a meanie-head, Squall," Yuffie huffed, looking offended.

"Leon," Leon replied immediately. Sometimes he didn't know why he tried. She was either calling him by his incorrect name (technically it was his true name, but he didn't really care to clarify at the moment) on purpose, or because her attention span really was as small as a goldfish's and it couldn't be helped.

"Yeah, yeah," Yuffie waved off the reply readily. She leaned against the cashier's counter, arms supporting her head as she eyed Squall lazily, "Whaddya want?"

"Coffee, I guess," He replied, barely glancing up at the overhanging board before answering, "Two sugars and creamer."

"Ooooh, so Squally has a sweet tooth, eh?" Yuffie snickered as she sidled back over to the old, and now even more abused percolator. She almost slipped on a cooling puddle of coffee before making it over to the machine, all the while asking over her shoulder the question she had been neglecting to ask all her customers until now, "Here or to go?"

"Here."

Yuffie swayed uncomfortably at the awkward silence that ensued as she waited for another batch of coffee to come spurting out of the percolator, idly fingering her burned hand. Squall was almost as quiet and stoic as Cloud, and, in general, Yuffie wasn't at all good with constant silence.

"So, what'd you do now," Squall asked out of the blue, just as the coffee-maker had released its last spurt of hot, caffeinated beverage.

"I kinda ruined a guy's bike," Yuffie replied thoughtlessly, pouring the end-product into a ceramic mug. Spooning in some sugar, she continued, "I have to make two thousand munny."

Finishing up the rest of the order, Yuffie sidled up to Squall and placed the mug in front of him, accepting his offered munny in return.

Opening the old-fashioned cash register, Yuffie placed the bills and coins inside, before looking at Squall suspiciously.

"You," She began, sounding skeptical, "You aren't going to tell anyone, right? About, well," she gestured to her ugly name-tag and the rest of the shabby-looking café, "This?"

"Hm? No," Leon replied, eyeing her questioningly again. If it was really that important, he wouldn't. He knew Yuffie's wrath well, and though it always ended in a childish prank if crossed, Yuffie really knew how to embarrass a person in front of others, or cause mental torment. In fact, he was counting down in his head the seconds before—

"Good! I swear if you tell _anyone_, you'll face the awesome wrath of the Great Ninja Yuffie! Not even your great-grandchildren will be spared!" Ah, yes, the imminent threat.

"Whatever," He replied apathetically. Now that that conversation was over, he could finally drink his coffee before it grew completely cold.

Taking a small sip, he almost spit it out immediately afterwards, releasing a strangled noise from his throat as the vile liquid slid down his esophagus.

"Eh? Squally, you okay?" Yuffie hopped over the counter, patting Squall quickly on the back (pat meaning overzealous punching to Leon's spinal cord).

Leon shook Yuffie away, coughing into his hand loudly. Yuffie stood, looking perplexed with her hands on her hips.

After a couple more coughs, Leon straightened, face stony as he quickly took the mug filled with Yuffie's coffee, conveniently placed onto the counter by Yuffie before she began to pummel him, and dropped the coffee, ceramic vessel and all, into a near-by trash bin.

"Hey! That's gonna be taken outta my paycheck!" Yuffie squealed.

"It doesn't matter. No one should have to be subjected to that—that!" Leon was too overcome by shock to finish the sentence properly. He pinched the bridge of his nose, attempting to calm down, the disgusting taste of the coffee still tainting his tongue. Once he regained his composure, Leon began again.

"Yuffie, your coffee tastes like crap."

Yuffie stared at him, stumbling for a reply, "B-But Delilah liked it!"

"I—I need to speak to the manager, inform him of the health hazard," Leon looked around, searching for any room that might be a likely place to find the manager.

"It couldn't have been that bad?! Lots of people drink it, and they never react like you do! You're just being a meanie-head again," After saying this, Yuffie stomped her booted foot.

Leon ignored her, proceeding to a door on the other side of the café marked 'STAFF,' knocking urgently on the door.

"Oh, come on Squally! You're such a drama queen! Saïx isn't much better!"

The door opened quietly, and, heedless of Yuffie's cat-like screeches, he headed into the room with the beckoning of a long-nailed hand.

"Squall! No, wait! Come back! Saïx _will_ eat you! No, no! TRAITOR!!"

**-x.-X-.x-**

Needless to say, that day ended with the serious mental scarring of Xaldin and Squall, two infamously stoic men, Yuffie's paycheck being docked, again, and Saïx breaking a nail as he man-handled one Squall "Leon" Leonhart.

(It should be noted that Saïx did make Squall another cup of coffee. It should also be noted that this cup was no better than Yuffie's, and possibly tasted worse in the long run, as it had the flavor of burnt popcorn and curdled whipped cream, a unique flavor combination that lasted, even after many fervent brushings by a rabid Squall. Xaldin still hides in the kitchen whenever Yuffie is near the percolator.)

**-x.-X-.x-**

(1) In all honesty, I made the mistake of pronouncing 'Yuffie' as 'Yuhffie,' before I heard it the correct way.

(2) I really don't know how to translate huge diamond blocks that magically appear after you kill stuff into practical words. I also don't know how to determine the value of the currency, so I'm just going with whatever the hell I feel like.

(3) Cloud doesn't know Yuffie's name, so he'll often call Yuffie names depending on what she's currently doing, like cashier girl, or crazy girl, though never aloud. He must be kinda stupid not to see it on the name-tag, ha ha…

**-x.-X-.x-**

This just kept getting longer and longer…Over 4 thousand words…Why the hell is it so long?!

This chapter is the end of **ARC I** (sounds important but really isn't), the general introduction arc. I'm taking this story in arcs that last about 3 to 5 chapters. I'll be going back and adding arc titles to previous chapters at some point. Next arc starts the introduction to Bahamut University and a wealth of new people (allegedly). I'm trying to get chapters out once a week, so don't expect updates within the same week, to the few who actually like to read this sorry excuse of a story.

Not much happened in this chapter, but it was extremely difficult to focus and write on this. The writing begins to get sloppy right about after the first sentence. Sorry for all the OOC-ness, I'm still trying to get a feel for writing these characters, and I'm not very well-versed in characterization, or any specific mode of writing, for that matter. Please bear with it as I muddle my way through this new field of story. Also, sorry for the poor humor, it came out on its own, but I'm not very funny. So sorry!

By the way, I love Delilah. Does anyone else? She's such a crotchety old person, it gives her charm. I'm quite taken with her, so you can expect her to return, ha ha…Anyways, please review! The DayDreaming out!


	6. darkness in your alley

**At a Walking Pace**

By: The DayDreaming

Warnings: AU Some crude language, not much. Bad days gone worse. Summer rains, you can never predict them.

Summary: AU "Hello, Yuffie." Yuffie never believed there was anyone quite as unattainable as Cloud. He was a distant star, and she was microscopic space dust on the bottom of his shoe. But she was still foolish enough to fight for a happy ending. YuffiexCloud, Zemyx, one-sided YuffiexZexion

_This chapter has not been edited for mistakes. If there are any, please notify me and I'll try to rectify the situation whenever I get off my lazy ass._

____________________**-x.-X-.x-**____________________

**arc II**: _dusk in your eyes_

_chapter six_: **darkness in your alley**

____________________**-x.-X-.x-**____________________

Today, Yuffie decided, was a particularly cruddy day. It was riddled with bad omens. Not only had her alarm clock failed to sound this morning, causing her be late to her early shift at her crappy job, but she had also managed to crash her large bookcase onto her bed in her haste to get ready. This resulted in a mild concussion (which she really should have gotten checked out, if the profuse bleeding that had resulted afterwards had a say in anything), and the horrifying discovery of a demonically smiling tortilla shell on her face.

And then! Half way to her job, she almost got hit by a speeding car, and was saved, to her mild embarrassment, by an elderly woman with a walker and a seeing-eye dog (a story that really should be told, but will not be). From there, she had been knocked in the head by a falling potted plant, thrown by an irate apartment tenant whom was apparently aiming for her cheating boyfriend but missed and threw the shrubbery out of her window instead. Wary of any more falling objects, Yuffie had dashed away, only to knock over some poor, blonde street artist who happened to be in exactly the same path as Yuffie. Unabashedly, Yuffie kept up her pace, only shouting a clearly unrepentant 'sorry' over her shoulder before running out of sight.

By the time Yuffie made it to the café, there was a long line of impatient customers waiting at the counter (the only other person that would be there at this time would be Xaldin, who wouldn't come near her, alone at least, and would lock himself in the kitchen, not even bothering to tend to the cash register). Yuffie could only wonder why those people would actually wait there, instead of going to the better, and much more popular, Paupu Shack, just down the street from the shabby little hellhole called NeverWas.

After having to listen to every single person in line complain about the long wait (which, in reality, was only five minutes after opening time), Delilah walked up, and Yuffie questioned why that old person with the walker couldn't have just left her to die.

By the time her hellish double shift had ended, and Pence walked up to relieve her, Saïx had grabbed her just as she was about to make a break for the tantalizing gateway to freedom, namely the main entrance, and dragged her like a sack of meat into his office to severely scold her for being late.

As of right now, she had just been splashed by an asshole on a scooter, who thought it was a great idea to drive through every fricken muddy, polluted puddle on the road.

"FUCK!! This'll never come out!" Yuffie screamed, face red as she angrily examined her once-white thigh-length stockings and khaki shorts. The few pedestrians on the street tried to covertly inch away from the fuming girl, whom was making strange thrusting motions with her hips as she tried to survey the damage.

"Damn it!" Yuffie screeched. She looked up and glared at a particularly distraught mother who was trying, unsuccessfully, to cover both her son's eyes and ears, "Ya got a problem?! Go walk off a bridge!"

She proceeded to stomp away, all the while muttering angrily to herself. Her mood appeared as dark as the overhanging sky, which, throughout the day, had been a beautiful clear blue, until about a half an hour ago. It was now a roiling mass of dark, purple clouds. It would be one of the worse storms of the stifling summer months in Hollow Bastion, one that would bring about the great floods that plagued the world in the rainy season (1)(2).

Yuffie continued her small tantrum as she walked, gritting her teeth as she moved from street to street. There was nothing to do today. Every person she could have ever possibly known was somehow busy. Of course, she could have been doing something productive, like studying, or training, or even helping old people cross the street (or not, because, really, she would probably end up pick pocketing them instead), but no. Today was a bad day. None of those options appealed to her in the slightest. She didn't even have any money to appease her growing hunger (she hadn't eaten since dinner, the night before).

All excess funds that weren't being fed into the pay-Cloud-back-or-he'll-kill-you-for-ruining-his-bike fund had just been spent on a new conformer. She couldn't help herself; it had just been so new and tantalizingly shiny. Now though, she regretted her poor planning.

Yuffie had been lost in her depressing thoughts as she rounded a corner. There was a bang, most likely the sound of a stray cat rustling around in a dumpster, which snapped her immediately from her reverie.

"Wha…?" Yuffie looked around her, confused about where she could have wandered off to in the midst of her sulking. The street was unfamiliar, looking decayed and decidedly hostile. Yellowed papers and plastic bottles meandered across the cracked pavement of the road, pushed by a heavy, cold wind, peculiar for the usually muggy weather. Yuffie took that moment to observe the unsettling movements of the clouds in the sky and the darkness that had engulfed the street due to the lack of light.

Another bang occurred, somewhere behind and to her left, as the yowl of a cat in an alley was heard. A desperate hissing began to emanate from the dark mouth of the alleyway, the sounds of pained yowling dispersed throughout the disturbing tirade. Was something in trouble? Should she help whatever it was? Yuffie turned, unsure if she should get nearer to the alley mouth. What if there was some deranged person there, torturing cute, fluffy things?

Yuffie shook her head at the thoughts, "C'mon Yuffster! You're not some wimpy shoujo (3) heroine! You're a goddamn ninja, start acting like one!"

With that said, she steeled her resolve, pulling out a small shuriken from her shorts' pocket, and quickly pulled away the rubber caps that kept the sharp blades from stabbing her hip. Weapon at the ready (how she wished she had brought her new conformer, though Saïx said that they weren't allowed to bring weapons to work), Yuffie inched her way over towards the alley.

The yowling was becoming fainter; before it could disappear, she rushed inside, black completely engulfing her. It was too dark to see anything except for a somewhat bright lump on the dirty, grime-slicked pavement. Yuffie dashed forward, in time to observe something dark next to the lump. With a shriek, lightning lit up the sky, illuminating the alley for an instant, long enough for her to identify a pitch black creature hovering over the defenseless lump. With a heavy swipe, Yuffie struck the creature, whose demonic, yellow eyes stared at her lifelessly.

As thunder and another streak of lightning sounded off simultaneously, she could see the creature seemingly vanish into the shadows. Yuffie pulled her hand back, wriggling her fingers experimentally; they felt incredibly cold, as if they had just been dipped in icy water. The way her weapon had also passed through the creature had also felt strange, as if hitting something solid, something alive, before it almost immediately turned into dust.

It had been unnerving; Yuffie nervously glanced around the alleyway, searching for the disappeared creature. Really, it had been irrational to just suddenly strike out like that, but the sight of the creature had disturbed something within her, something fearful, that told her to smite the odd being as soon as possible. And what was it anyway?

It couldn't have been a cat, Yuffie pondered to herself, could it? The thing must have been about as tall as her waist (4), when it wasn't crouched on all fours. But, it did resemble a cat, in a way. Then again, the strange antennae and round head also made it look like some kind of hybrid ant-cat.

Whatever it had been, she didn't want to stick around and find out. Yuffie quickly gathered the lump sprawled next to her, a white cat from the looks of it. It yowled and hissed at her, before quieting as another flash of lightning lit the sky, and a few seconds later landing everything into a perpetual twilight again.

Yuffie emerged from the alley, cursing her luck as the first few droplets of the inevitable storm landed around her. She looked around desperately for shelter, preferably a place that wasn't damp, dark, and in any way related to an alley. Seeing no alternative, she began to run looking for overhangs in the buildings and rundown apartments around her.

There seemed to be nothing around her; all the buildings were either boarded up, or looked too run down to be usable, and would probably just collapse on her. She had never been to this portion of the city. Everything seemed strange and unfamiliar to her eyes, which had grown used to the immaculate order and cleanliness of the better part of the city. Here, everything looked abandoned and dark, unlivable.

After running what felt like at least a couple blocks through the dark streets, praying that the rain would stay a drizzle for just a bit longer, Yuffie finally reached a set of grimy, broad cement steps. They appeared to lead to a large building, almost grandiose in appearance compared to everything else within the surrounding, uninhabited slums. Yuffie didn't take the time to appreciate the building's façade as she rushed forward in relief, noticing that this building wasn't boarded up or run-down like the others, but, in fact, looked to be kept in relatively good care.

The rain was beginning to turn into a downpour, drenching Yuffie and her almost forgotten cargo thoroughly. She hopped up the last of the steps to the large, imposing double-doors of the facility. She prayed that her potential salvation wasn't locked, and unhooked a shivering arm from the silent cat in her hold, reaching out to grab onto the thick, dilapidated gold door handles.

She pulled on the door, grunting as the solid, wood fixture refused to budge. She blinked, and proceeded to pull again. Again, the door refused to heed her will, and Yuffie stood, dumbfounded that her long sought-out salvation wasn't opening, and that rain was steadily pouring in from the large holes in the overhang above her.

"No…," Yuffie whispered, face reddening in anger as she realized that, once again, she had been denied even an ounce of mercy on her cruddy, crappy, and all around shitty day.

"No! No no no no!"

Yuffie tugged uselessly against the door, rage building as the wood remained stalwart. With an out-of-character screech, the livid teen slammed her booted foot into the door handle, almost slipping on the slick floor of the small patio area.

With a groan, the door opened inwards, emitting a small cloud of dust. Yuffie stood, dumbfounded once again, eyes silently trailing to the bottom of the now-scuffed handle, sight landing on a small, rusted plate reading 'PUSH.'

Deciding that now wasn't the time to brood, and getting steadily wetter, Yuffie stepped forward into the dark interior of the mysterious building. It was difficult to see, and she had the urge to sneeze as unsettled dust puffed around her face. Feeling the rain begin to seep into the doorway from a strong shift in wind, Yuffie immediately closed the door behind her.

Sighing softly while securing the cat in her arms, Yuffie stood in the entrance way, allowing her eyes to adjust to the dusky lighting. After a couple minutes, she could just make out that she was in a small lobby of sorts. Desks lined the walls, rusted, unmoving signs hanging above them, while what looked to be fake potted plants sat in the corners of the room. It looked dreary, and Yuffie uneasily stepped forward, before hearing a slight scuffling noise against the doors in the entranceway.

It sounded like scratching; the cat in Yuffie's arms, at the noise, lifted its weak head and let out a desperate hiss. Gulping, Yuffie quickly made her way across the lobby, the noises fading slightly as she neared another set of double doors.

Careful to push the doors in correctly, Yuffie quickly entered a wider area, slightly brighter than the creepy lobby.

The first thing Yuffie noticed after she finished closing the lobby doors were the tall windows, set against the walls of the high vaulted room. The panes were intricately gilded and emitted a hazy, dusky light. Some windows appeared to be made from stained glass, though, at the moment, Yuffie couldn't make out the designs. As her eyes adjusted, Yuffie noted the tall bookcases, standing heavy and stalwart in perfect, dusty rows. This building was, apparently, a very grand library, similar in style to others scattered throughout the portions of the city she was familiar with.

Yuffie felt a wave of relief as she observed that this room wasn't nearly as creepy as the lobby, and, in fact, looked kind of pretty to her addled brain. Walking forward, she almost fell down the sudden set of steps in front of her. She kept moving though, planning to keep away from the lobby as much as possible, and searched for a possible place to sit down.

By now, the cat had settled down, and was shaking in her hold.

Yuffie looked down at the cat, feeling sorry for it as it settled closer to her chest in an attempt to get warm, although she was probably as cold as it was.

"Don't worry! The Great Ninja Yuffie will find a place to warm you up!" Yuffie grinned at it, feeling kind of stupid for talking to the feline. The cat seemed to agree, as it hissed at her.

After walking through what seemed to be a forest of bookshelves, she came upon a small lounge area, with what appeared to be a couple of plush couches and chairs, along with a couple tables. Upon spotting the wholly welcome furniture, Yuffie jumped over the back of one of the couches, sending a large cloud of dust flying as well as causing the cat to hiss and spit more at her.

"Gawd! Relief," Yuffie sighed happily, nestling into the cold couch while hugging the cat to her chest, making it raise its hackles.

She looked at the cat, reminding herself of the strange creature and the disturbing scratching noises at the library's entrance.

A contemplating frown formed on her face, as she thought back to the strange encounter that had caused her mad dash out of the alley in search of shelter. She glanced to one of the large windows lining the library, worried that she might spot the strange black monster (?) glaring in through one of the panes, like some B-rated horror film.

"What was it…?" Yuffie murmured, perplexed, "Is it still out there?"

She wasn't sure what to do anymore; this had never been covered in any of her classes. Monsters weren't supposed to be in the city, they would be eliminated before they could pass the city walls. She didn't have any good weapons on her, either. She would be screwed if more than a few came at once.

Suddenly, she heard a scuffling sound behind her. She shot up, clutching the instantly wary cat more tightly to her chest while procuring her shuriken from her pocket. She looked around frantically, searching the gloom of the bookshelves for any signs of the monsters.

"C-Can they get in here?" She murmured to herself.

"They'll keep coming, you know. Not here, of course, but they are always watching, waiting."

Yuffie whirled around in time to see a flash of haunting yellow and black in the dusk.

**-x.-X-.x-**

(1) I've never understood how Hollow Bastion can go from a place swamped in water to a barren wasteland. I actually liked the Hollow Bastion in the first Kingdom Hearts a lot better than the second because it was swamped in water and fog, making it look really pretty. So, I put it here that during the rainy months, the world is covered in water, like in the first KH, while, in the dry season, it looks like it does in KH2, except, y'know, not in the process of being renovated.

(2) Surprised at how fast the bad weather comes? That's exactly how it is in Florida during the summer. Strangely enough, as I was writing about the storm, it started to rain really hard. Ah, Florida.

(3) I bet Yuffie reads manga. Shounen manga. Not that there's anything wrong with shoujo, but she probably likes action more so than mushy, love-sick stuff.

(4) I used to think that they were really tiny, but then I realized that they're about waist height on Sora, who is about as tall as Yuffie in KH2. So, yeah.

**-x.-X-.x-**

Sorry for the wait. Did I say next week? I mean next month. I'm sorry if this isn't that good. I'm rusty and extremely tired. I can't keep my eyes straight, so, sorry if there are a lot of typos. I'll fix it when I'm more awake.

Is this plot I see?! Maybe. You guys will just have to come up with your own conjectures. Who's the mystery man? It's probably not who you think it is, though I made it rather obvious, I think. Is the cat significant? No, but I like cats. I need to come up with a name for it.

By the way, I just had my birthday! On July 21st, I turned 1 year older! So, I have an offer for you guys who read these author notes. If you like my writing, I offer this:

**The first person to answer this question in a review will receive a one-shot from me, to be posted on ffnet. I'll contact the winner, and sort out the details. This one-shot can be about anything having to do with the Kingdom Hearts universe, with any prompt, plot, characters, and pairings. Any! That means it's not restricted to just CloudxYuffie, or het, for that matter.**

**The question: What age have I just turned? As in, how old am I now?**

This is fairly easy to answer, especially since I am rather detailed in the section where my full-sized icon can be seen. That was a rather stupid hint, hope you get it!

Thanks for reading this far down in this too-long author's note. Please review! The DayDreaming out!


	7. shadows in your window

**At a Walking Pace**

By: The DayDreaming

Warnings: AU Crude language. Strong denial of the supernatural. Hurt kitties. Abuse of the King's English.

Summary: AU "Hello, Yuffie." Yuffie never believed there was anyone quite as unattainable as Cloud. He was a distant star, and she was microscopic space dust on the bottom of his shoe. But she was still foolish enough to fight for a happy ending. YuffiexCloud, Zemyx, one-sided YuffiexZexion

_This chapter has not been edited for mistakes. If there are any, please notify me and I'll try to rectify the situation whenever I get off my lazy ass._

____________________**-x.-X-.x-**____________________

**arc II**: _dusk in your eyes_

_chapter seven_: **shadows in your window**

____________________**-x.-X-.x-**____________________

**-x.-X-.x-**

"_They'll keep coming, you know. Not here, of course, but they are always watching, waiting."_

_Yuffie whirled around in time to see a flash of haunting yellow and black in the dusk._

**-x.-X-.x-**

"You're not very bright, are you?"

"Wha--?"

Yuffie blinked owlishly, staring up at the dark ceiling, eyes tracing the shadowed pillars and arches from her position on the floor. What had happened? Why was she here?

"No. In fact, I'd say you're a blown bulb."

And who the hell was this guy? His condescending voice was grating on her nerves.

Silence ensued for the next minute as Yuffie continued to ponder these few, simple questions. Finally, she organized a tidy list of known facts:

1) She was half on the floor, her head resting uncomfortably against the leg of a chair, while her other half was sprawled haphazardly across a nearby coffee table.

2) There were a multitude of burning scratches marring the skin around her face and chest.

3) There was some guy standing around and staring at her while making snide remarks about her intelligence.

4) She used to not be sprawled on the floor, there used to not be scratches all over her, and there used to not be a guy standing around and making rude comments.

At last, Yuffie decided that some of these observations needed to be amended, and so she slid the rest of her body off the coffee table and groped around for a handhold to pull herself up. Once righted, Yuffie looked around for the mysterious voice, eyes resting on an unfamiliar face.

"Who are you?"

The boy, as he was a boy, since his features were too soft to be that of a man's, raised his one visible eyebrow in contemplation. Or maybe it was contempt. Either way, the boy quickly lowered his brow and formed a glare, seeming to take offense at Yuffie's stand-offish tone.

"I believe that question should be reserved for you," came his cool reply, "After all, you're the one who's breaking and entering."

"Like hell I am," Yuffie bit back, crossing her arms across her chest. "This is a library, isn't it? I'm allowed in if I want."

The boy 'hmphed,' seemingly defeated, although it was more likely that he didn't care enough about the conversation to continue. Yuffie smirked at the victory, before looking into the gloom to try and spot whatever it was that she had seen before. Having moved too quickly in her surprise, she had accidentally tripped over a coffee table and ended up in her earlier predicament.

"What are you looking for?"

Yuffie turned her head to look at the mysterious stranger, who was still standing in the same spot as before.

She scoffed at his apparent ignorance of the situation at hand, before brusquely replying, "That thing, with the yellow eyes. I could have sworn one was in here, before I fell over."

"Creature," the stranger made an amused noise in the back of his throat, "What are you talking about?"

"You should know! You were the one who was talking about it earlier," Yuffie snapped, "'They'll keep coming,' or something like that. What did you mean, anyways?"

The stranger tilted his head, a contemplative tone touching his voice, "I have no idea what you're talking about. I didn't say anything of the sort."

Yuffie couldn't believe her ears. What was this guy on, to not remember what had said just five minutes ago?

"Bullshit. You were talking about those black creatures, with the weird yellow eyes, and there's one in here!"

Yuffie proceeded to move forward and search out the monster, lightly grasping the shuriken hidden in her hand, "I know I saw something."

"You mean this?" Here, the stranger stepped forward and proffered a heavy, black flash light. Yuffie eyed it with disbelief, not believing that she could mistake this thing for one of those monsters. A slim, pale finger flipped the switch, and with a click, the flash light revealed a thick, yellow beam. The glass lens was yellowed from age, giving the light an amber glow as it pushed passed the shadows and lit an opposing bookshelf.

She opened her mouth in disbelief, hardly believing that this was what had caused her panic, "No way! I would have totally known if it was a flash light! I would have seen the light before I heard anything! That's not it!"

"Then what is?" The stranger replied, voice cool and unforgiving, "Are you sure you aren't seeing thing? I've never heard of a yellow-eyed, black monster before."

Yuffie's face reddened when she heard this. Did he not believe her? When she thought about it, even to her own ears it sounded impossible, "I-I, well…It was there! I know it was!"

"Your proof?"

Yuffie remained silent at his words, giving a hard glare at the stranger's darkened face. This was infuriating. She knew what she saw, and what she saw was definitely real. She had felt it, had hurt it. There was the cat, too. She had saved the cat, hadn't she?

"The cat!" Yuffie blurted out, looking around frantically when she realized she had forgotten all about it in her engrossing conversation with the stranger. It had last been in her arms, before she fell over. It must have gotten away at some point before she came back to her senses.

"Cat?" The stranger turned his head as well, wondering what the strange girl was talking about. He spied it easily, moping under a table and licking its side with fervor, "There, you mean?"

Yuffie turned to where he was pointing and quickly ran over to the feline. It hissed as she moved to lift it up from under the table, but put up little of a fight afterwards.

She brought back over to the sitting area, where the stranger still stood, and proudly presented the cat to him, his shadowed form peering at it for moment before pointing his flash light at the prone form.

"See? I saved this cat from that black creature you think doesn't exist!" She stated in triumph, having found her proof.

"Oh, really? Well then, I suppose you wouldn't mind finishing up where you left off saving it. It's probably going to bleed to death," The stranger replied, matter-of-factly, voice sounding unconcerned over the observation it just made.

"Yea—WHAT?!" Yuffie sputtered and quickly looked at the cat again. She hadn't taken the time to closely examine it before, when there had been an imminent threat of danger. In the library, though there had been time, it was still too dark to see the damage done. With the flash light, the wounds were clearly visible. A dark, muddy red matted the draggled fur, scratches and gouges in the skin clearly visible from missing patches of hair. That's why it had been acting so lifeless, so compliant to a point.

"Ah! What do I do?! Kitty's going to die," Yuffie panicked, eyeing the blood sticking to her fingers and smearing the cat's fur.

"Settle down," The cool voice of the stranger made itself heard over her panic attack, "I'll go get a first aid kit. Sit down and don't move while I go get it."

With that, his shadowed form left, taking the flash light with him. After a couple of steps though, he stopped and turned, and in a warning voice said, "And don't do anything stupid."

Yuffie sat down and placed the wounded creature beside her, watching sullenly as it proceeded to start licking at its wounds again. This was clear proof, wasn't it? Something had attacked this cat, something not normal. Something like a black creature, with yellow eyes, she was sure.

After a couple of minutes, the stranger's slow shuffle could be heard, and this time, Yuffie saw the flash light coming properly. The stranger had returned, bringing a medical kit with him, as well as a couple towels. He seated himself on the coffee table across from the couch, handing Yuffie the towels and flash light, and telling her to place the cat on top of one.

"Can't have it ruining my couch," He said.

He busied himself with opening the large, plastic container, rooting around for antiseptic and bandages. Procuring said objects, he started cleaning the cat's wounds while Yuffie held the hissing cat down and aimed the flash light at the cat to illuminate the pseudo-operating table, feeling sorry as she saw the cleaner being applied in ample amounts.

After each wound he cleaned, the stranger held the towel to the wound for a couple seconds to soak up any excess blood, before applying a bandage or wrapping a long strip of gauze around the affected area. It seemed to take forever, as the stranger used precise movements and paid careful attention to each wound, but, eventually, the boy lifted his head and stated that he had finished, and had done what he could.

"I-Thanks," Yuffie said, finally releasing her hold on the cat, who hissed at her before moving tenderly to the other side of the coach to lie down and sleep off the horrible experience, "You're not as snooty as I thought you were."

"Hmph," The stranger replied uninterestedly, as he packed up the medical supplies into the proper compartments of the first aid kit, "It wasn't anything. Besides, I figured you probably weren't smart enough to figure out what to do on your own."

"Whaaat?!" Yuffie couldn't believe it, "I show a little gratitude, and that's what I get?! Fine! I take it back; you're a snob and a bastard!"

The stranger didn't reply as he settled back into a coach across from the one where Yuffie sat, taking the flash light and switching off. Denied of the amber glow, the room fell into dusk again. Yuffie had yet to see the stranger's features, the boy taking care to not let the light show anything of his form.

Yuffie stared hard at him through the darkness, attempting to see anything through the thick shadows. I t was getting darker outside, as the forgotten storm raged on outside into the late afternoon hours. She could barely hear the patter of the rain in the dark library, and wondered for how much longer it would go on. Finally, she sat back with a sigh, sinking herself into the comfort of the couch, dust be damned.

The guy was too weird, just appearing out of nowhere. And rude, too! He probably wasn't worth her time, but one thing kept bothering her about him.

"Do you really not believe me about those black monsters?" Her voice sounded drained as it passed into the air.

"Hmph, of course not. There's no such thing." Was his immediate reply.

"They have to be real! Really," Yuffie started, frustrated at his refusal, "I felt one! It was as cold as ice! And you just cleaned up the cat! How do you think it got those wounds? It was from that black thing, and I saw it, clear as day, before it disappeared."

"You probably saw a black dog, or something, and it was attacking the cat. It was pretty dark outside; you most likely saw a reflection of light off the back of the dog's eyes (1)."

"It wasn't a dog!"

"Hmm. Prove it."

"I-I, ugh! You're such a butthead!"

Yuffie growled, seething at the quaint explanations and rebuffs. Something strange was going on, she knew it. This guy probably had something to do with it, too, but he wasn't fessing up. She really wanted to sock him a good one.

"Really now, if you're going to sulk, go do it outside. You're distracting me."

Yuffie glared at him through the gloom, "I can't mister know-it-all! As you can probably see, it's still raining outside."

"It's never too late. You're dripping wet still, and ruining my couch. I don't see why you can't go back out."

"Ugh! You're impossible!"

"And you're too noisy. Shut up."

"Make me!"

The stranger didn't reply, instead shifting around to be more comfortable in his seat. Yuffie watched him for a couple of minutes, trying to see if he would do anything, but saw that the stranger had given up. Thinking on it, she realized that she had never found out the stranger's name.

"What's your name, anyways?" Yuffie asked, finally deciding that she'd like to put a name with the asshole-ish attitude.

"Hm?" The boy let out a half-hearted sigh, before replying, "Zexion, Zexion Deumbra (2). And you?"

"I'm the Great Ninja Yuffie!" Yuffie said, with a large flourish of her hand, though Zexion probably couldn't see it.

"Ninja? I never would have guessed."

Yuffie sputtered at the remark. Was this guy blind? She practically radiated ninja awesome-ness.

Before she could reply with a hearty 'Fuck you,' he continued on, "Whatever. Anyways, what's someone like you doing here?"

Honestly, Yuffie didn't know herself, but she wouldn't admit to this smart-ass that she was lost, "I could ask you the same thing. What are you doing here? I came to get out of the storm."

"Hmph," Zexion huffed, "I run this library. I have more right to be here than you do. Did I mention that pets aren't allowed?"

"Go shove it."

"How polite. Anyways, I suppose you'll be staying here for the night?"

"Why would I? This place is so dark and dusty!"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe because this storm is going to last for a while and because you seem to believe that there are monsters of the night out to get you? Honestly, you sound like an eight year old."

"Yeah? Well you sound like an old woman."

"Better someone of age and intelligence than someone with none at all."

"Asshole."

"Your range of vocabulary is impeccable, I must say."

"…"

Yuffie was honestly stumped. What could she do? Did she really have to spend the night with this guy? What about her parents? Would they care that she hadn't come home? Probably not. It wouldn't be so bad here, right? Well, besides the slight blemish of Zexion, this place was okay, with no sign of the creepy black creature, and was significantly drier than anywhere else at the moment.

"I suppose I could grace you with my awesome presence for the night."

"You're hilarious."

"Whatever. I'm going to sleep, okay? You better not try anything creepy, or I'll kick your ass with my super ninja powers!"

"Noted."

"Fine."

"…"

"I mean it! Stay over there!"

"Understood. You're rather ungrateful, aren't you?

"Shut it."

With those last words, Yuffie let her eyes slip shut, blocking out the dimming rays of light mingling through the windows. Listening intently, she heard Zexion settle down, and then the quiet patter of rain against the windows. She could feel the wet fur of the cat against her leg, resting and recovering, and she wondered what would happen to it, if it really would survive. It was a strange afternoon, to be sure. Things would still be the same though, after this. Right? One strange afternoon out of a thousand normal ones didn't spell the change of a lifetime, did it?

Yuffie opened her eyes as she heard the slightest of scratching noises, faint, even to her ears. She looked around quickly, seeing the unmoving form of Zexion on the other couch, probably already asleep, or pretending to be. She realized quickly that it was merely the cat, moving and twitching in its dream-plagued sleep, the images apparently unpleasant. Yuffie settled back down again, feeling exhausted. She was wet and hungry, and almost unbearably cold. Now was the time to rest. She could afford to be paranoid later.

With that thought in mind, her gaze slid lazily over to a far-off window. Her sight slid sluggishly down the panes, passing lightly over a small shadow in the corner. She thought nothing of it, and fell into a deep, black well of sleep. The shadow shifted, yellow eyes peeking through glass like amber lights.

**-x.-X-.x-**

1) You know that creepy glowing eye phenomenon that animals have? It's light reflecting off of the cells at the back of the inside of the eyeball.

2) Deumbra: Umbra means shade, shadow; a phantom, shadowy apparition, ghost, spectral image. De- is a prefix; can mean privation, removal, separation, negation, descent, reversal, or **intensity**. I chose intensity as the specific meaning. In French and Spanish, it is also a preposition meaning 'of.' So, you can think of it as either _intense shadow_ or _intense phantom_, or you can think of it as _of shadow_. Meanings come from dictionary dot com.

**-x.-X-.x-**

So! There we have it! The not so thrilling conclusion! Well, at least Zexion is here now.

I'm sorry if the characters are OOC. I've never written Zexion before, nor have I ever really seen him. I don't really know his mannerisms or speech patterns. Tell me if you think he's way out of character and I'll work on it.

So, this chapter really did not want to get written. It was hard to just sit down and type it. But I forced myself, and now I'm feeling a bit iffy about. I'm sorry for the low-quality! I'm super-tired right now, and I just want to lie down and sleep, but I promised myself I would type it out today, no matter what.

Not much really happened this time around. Is kitty gonna be okay? Will it ever get a name? Did you think it took way too long to get Zexion's name? Will there be more witty banter? Are the black creatures really just a figment of Yuffie's imagination? What does Zexion have to hide? Why didn't they just turn the lights on? All this and more, not answered in the next chapter!

Oh, and the winner of last chapter's little contest is **khgurl4ever**! Good job. I replied to your review, asking for your specifications, but you haven't answered back yet. Please send me a PM so I can start working on your prize! If I don't receive a PM from you with your one-shot specifications by the next chapter, **chapter** **8**, consider the offer lost, and the question open once again for answers from other reviewers. Okay?

That's all, I think. Thank you for reading this far down, and I appreciate you guys taking the time to read this slow-paced story! Please review! The DayDreaming out!

**P.S. Do you goys think I should write a different summary? I kinda don't like the current one, but I'll leave that up to you guys to decide. Keep the old summary, or write a new one?**


	8. dust in your throat

**At a Walking Pace**

By: The DayDreaming

Warnings: AU Bit of filler. Threatening letters. Theft of delicious smoothies. Sacrilege of the Dewey-decimal system.

Summary: AU"There's dusk in your eyes." In cases of unrequited love, Yuffie is Queen. What does she do to fix this? Try to snag the most unattainable guy ever. Even as she tries, her life seems to only fall apart. But, she'll do it, even if it kills her. It will.

_This chapter has not been edited for mistakes. If there are any, please notify me and I'll try to rectify the situation whenever I get off my lazy ass._

**-x.-X-.x-**

**PREVIOULSY:**

_Yuffie gets caught in a storm and has a strange encounter with some mysterious black creatures. Taking shelter in a run-down library, she meets Zexion, an uptight young man that doesn't seem pleased by her presence. Zexion says that the creatures don't exist and Yuffie is left wondering whether or not it was really her imagination after all…_

**-x.-X-.x-**

____________________**-x.-X-.x-**____________________

**arc II**: _dusk in your eyes_

_chapter eight_: **dust in your throat**

____________________**-x.-X-.x-**____________________

Yuffie awoke, groggy and stiff, the next morning. Lukewarm heat spilled across her open face from one of arched windows placed in the vast library.

She blinked, confused in her sleepy haze as she looked blearily around, not recognizing her location at all.

Wait, she thought to herself, library?

"So, it wasn't a dream…," she mused aloud, pulling herself up from the sticky leather of the couch that had taken to clinging to her damp skin at some point in the evening, "Too bad. That guy is a real jerkwad. Speaking of jerkwads…"

Zexion, if she remembered the name correctly, was nowhere to be seen. He had disappeared from his previous position on the couch opposite hers. The wounded cat was also missing.

Just as Yuffie was about to stand and search for the MIA pair, a folded piece of paper caught her eye, laying innocently on the glass-top of the coffee table she had tripped over just the afternoon before. She picked it up, making a small, unintelligible noise in the back of her throat before slipping lithe fingers into the open spaces between the neat foldings of the paper. It opened up like a flower, perfect, neat lettering tracing the crisp planes of the sheet.

It read:

_To the person who likes to break and enter into other people's properties,_

_I have left to run some personal errands. I assume that, since this library isn't your current residency, you will be leaving at some point in the near future. I trust you will leave everything intact, and in its proper place and order (if you do not, prepare to suffer imminent consequences if you dare to show your sorry excuse for a face ever again)._

_And I swear by the gods, if that mangy cat so much as even dares to urinate or excrete any biohazardous waste materials in my library, I will seek it out (and you), and skin it alive and shove its remains down your throat._

_Have a nice day,_

_Zexion_

_P.S.: You have ruined my couch with your incessant dripping and cat blood. You will be footing the bill for a new one, as I am going out today to obtain your personal information and can therefore send you the fees. Begone._

Yuffie read the neat writing of the note carefully, eyes widening the further she read.

"Have a nice day…?" she muttered to herself after reading the rather threatening after-note, "This guy is nuts…and bipolar…"

Yuffie folded the note and put it away in her pocket for safe-keeping (y'know, in case she ever needed proof in court that it was Zexion who had force-fed her a cat corpse and left her asphyxiated corpse in a ditch). She let out a heavy sigh, stretching to try and get the kinks out of her back. The satisfying pops of her vertebrae led to a little relief, but overall she was still extremely sore and tired.

She moved away from the small, open lounge area, looking around the now lighted library's interior. It was morning, to be sure; the thin yellow rays that had so rudely awakened her slithered through the intricately paned windows, alighting upon rows and rows of books stacked organized and neatly into their respective shelves. The place was much bigger than she had imagined it would be, stretching on for a while before her eyesight was blocked by some inconveniently placed shelves. Almost all of the books looked incredibly thick and old as well.

The thought that Zexion had kept addressing the library as 'his' seemed to strike a discordant note in Yuffie's head. Either Zexion was a mega-nerd and needed an entire library to hold all of his books, or he was the librarian. If the latter was the case, than Zexion was a really crappy one, since, despite the fact that everything was in order, the place was as dusty and dirty as hell. How did the guy not have constant asthma attacks in this place?

Deciding that the chain of thoughts was too boring to follow, Yuffie turned her attention to the fact that the injured cat from the night before was missing.

"KIIIITY!!!! Come out! Zexion the jerkwad is gonna get you and read about quantum physics out loud if you don't come out!"

There was no reply or emergence of the cat, and Yuffie huffed angrily. She certainly wouldn't want that guy to read _her_ quantum physics. This cat just had no common sense.

With a groan she moved forward, toward the direction of the lobby. If she didn't find the cat on the way, then it would just have to stay here and eat dusty mice and pee all over Zexion's book. Actually, that last part sounded like a good idea; the guy needed a slice of reveng—er, humble pie.

When she reached the thick wooden doors leading to the lobby, she spotted a familiar ball of fur, curled up against the crack between the two double-doors. The cat opened one eye, peering at her lazily before rolling it slightly, as if say, 'Oh, great. It's back.'

"Hey! That's no way to greet your savior, you stupid, ungrateful cat!" Yuffie shouted, pointing her finger at it in outrage.

The cat graced her with a hiss of indignation.

"Hmph, see if I ever save you from scary black monsters—THAT TOTALLY EXIST, no matter what that stupid butthead says!—ever again!"

Yuffie turned her head away from the now-growling feline, towards the nearest bookshelf. All of the books were lined up in alphabetical order by author, and then by book title. This Zexion guy was a neat-freak, albeit a lazy one, judging by the state of the dust-collection enveloping the library.

She fingered the note in her pocket for a moment, and then began to smile deviously.

"Proper place and order, eh…?"

**-x.-X-.x-**

"Hey, Yuffie!" Demyx shouted, waving frantically at the girl as she passed by the NeverWas café, holding something in her arms. He waved a bit more as the girl turned around from her brisk walk and saw him at one of the cheap tables residing at her current workplace.

"Demyx!" she replied back, equally as loud and making the cat sulking in her arms hiss mildly at her.

He pointed to the seat situated across from him at his table, and Yuffie obliged by walking up the cracked cement steps of the run-down café. She carefully placed her 'little bundle of joy' on the table top; Demyx stared at the bandaged cat in confusion.

"Uh, do I wanna know?"

"It's a long and really weird story," Yuffie replied, eyeing the cat with a bit of distaste (and perhaps a little, teensy-weensy bit of affection), "Some really weird shit happened yesterday…"

"Ah-huh," Demyx said, trying to pet the growling feline on its head without getting bitten (he was failing), "I bet. That was a pretty good storm, by the way. Totally flooded the lower parts of the city, I hear. I was gonna check it out later, wanna come along?"

"Ah, sure," Yuffie said, stealing Demyx's drink from right next to his elbow while he was busy with the cat. Luckily, it wasn't coffee, but some kind of smoothie. She couldn't quite place the flavor, but it tasted good, and she didn't complain.

"So, what happened?" Demyx asked, finishing his attempted play with the irate feline sprawled unceremoniously in front of him. He reached around blindly for his drink for a couple of seconds before spotting it in Yuffie's sticky grasp. He let out an indignant squawk and tried to grab the cup of smoothie, but Yuffie quickly pulled away from the table, sucking the entire drink down as she leaned back in her cheap plastic chair, balanced on only two legs.

He huffed, but conceded defeat as the empty cup was thrown at his head, "That was mine…"

"I know!" Yuffie replied brightly, grin spreading across her face and lighting up her eyes, "It was a good something of yours, too. Remind me to indulge in your things more often. What was it, by the way?"

"Sea-salt ice-cream smoothie or something. I just asked for the pretty blue stuff in the blender. You should know, shouldn't you? You work here."

"Ah, the mysteries of the menu, my good friend! Nobody knows what's on there, not even Saïx, suck-up that he is," Yuffie replied. She idly picked at a stray strand of skin next to her nail, before letting herself down from her tilted position on the chair, "Anyways, about yesterday…"

Yuffie proceeded to tell Demyx about everything that had happened, from her wandering into unfamiliar territory in the city (she had managed to stumble her way out onto more familiar streets after she left the library; being able to see where she was going without a torrential downpour really helped in the becoming-not-lost process), to the strange creature that had attacked the cat currently laid out sunbathing on the table; she had ranted heartily on the dark weather that still seemed to swirl about their heads in the form of forbidding gray clouds, and then about the mysterious, dilapidated library and its owner, whose name she chose not to mention, instead referring to the man as 'jerkwad' or 'butthead.'

Demyx seemed amused and troubled by the tale, staring uncertainly at Yuffie. Yuffie knew that Demyx would believe her, no matter how far-fetched it sounded; he probably just wasn't very comfortable with how much he believed her. As much as Demyx had missed being Yuffie's close friend, it had still grown awkward between the two, much to both's chagrin.

"That's really something, Yuffs," Demyx finally said, once Yuffie had calmed from her heated rant about properly labeled street signs, "You…don't think it's going to happen again, do you?"

"Huh?" Yuffie replied intelligently, snorting just a bit too much of the sea-salt smoothie she was drinking into her mouth. She had insisted that Demyx buy her one, or two, or three, since she was poor and she was his guest, so to speak. She shrugged, pouring some of the smoothie onto her palm and placing it in front of the cat, who began to lap at the drink (he seemed quite taken with the drink as well, despite his dislike of the fact that it was Yuffie who was feeding him), "I hope not. Those things are seriously creepy, and I am not crawling into another dark alley to save some ungrateful little cretin again."

The cat deigned not to reply to the jibe, continuing to lick at Yuffie's hand.

"I think it likes you, Yuff," Demyx surmised, after coming up with nothing else to say on the rather bewildering topic of yesterday afternoon, "He's not running away, is he?"

"Hardly! I think he's just a free-loader, encroaching upon the benign and inherently good will of a good Samaritan, such as me," Yuffie replied, taking her hand away from the cat when it tried to bite her upon finding that there was no more smoothie left in her palm.

"Does he have a name?" Demyx asked, taking a sip of his own recently-bought smoothie, after Yuffie had finished his, "You're gonna keep him, right?"

"Ha! Keep 'im?! You're outta your mind. This thing'll probably chew my face off in my sleep. Besides, my parents would never let me keep him. My step-mom hates animals," Yuffie replied simply, leaning back in her chair, "Why don't you keep him?"

"I would," Demyx laughed, "If he didn't seem to hate my guts so much. Cats just don't like me! I can't figure out why…**(1)**."

Yuffie 'hmm'ed, tapping the side of her smoothie cup. What was she going to do with it? The thing was completely helpless with its side torn open like it was. It would probably die from starvation, the elements, or an infection if somebody didn't take care of it.

"Well…Hm, I'd probably name him Red XIII or something," Yuffie finally managed to muster a reply, mind still wandering on the topic of who was going to be taking care of the feline.

Demyx blinked, then wrinkled his nose as the name sank in, "'Red XIII?' What kind of name is that?"

"It's easy," Yuffie said, sitting up and leaning over the cat, "He's got thirteen," she pointed to several places on the cat's relatively white pelt, "red spots. Red XIII. There."

"That's stupid. Those are splotches of blood! Blood!!" Demyx said, waving frantically at the aforementioned stains, "You don't name a pet with something like that!"

"Oh," Yuffie spat, looking offended that Demyx had called her logic 'stupid.' She tilted her head, looking at him with narrowed eyes, "Then what would you call him, pet-name expert?"

Demyx pouted at her, rubbing his chin in thought, "I don't know…I kinda like 'Nanaki.' What do you think?"

"Where the hell did you come up with that?"

"Don't make fun of it!" Demyx protested as Yuffie went about sipping on her drink again, laughing slightly at the name, "Nanaki was a great warrior from the Gi tribe in another world. He's famous for being the last of his kind and defending his home world from an evil mad scientist that thought he could play god and make everyone his experiments."

"I don't know, Demyx," Yuffie smirked, looking pointedly at the cat lying languidly on the table with its legs flopped over the edge, "That's quite a name to put on someone like this lazy slob."

"Well, better than Red XIII," Demyx said flippantly, getting up and tossing his empty smoothie container into a nearby bin, then doing the same when Yuffie tossed her also-empty cup at his head.

"Whatever you say, name-guru," Yuffie laughed, also getting up. They had been sitting for the better part of two hours; Demyx probably wanted to go check out the flooded areas (damn him and his strange fascination for things dealing with the destructive nature of water) before it got too late in the day and all the areas were drained completely.

"You just gonna leave it there?" Demyx asked, as the pair made their way down the café's stairs.

"Hm, yeah. Someone'll pick Nanaki up, right?" Yuffie said, arms folded behind her head as she descended the last of the steps. Demyx seemed to waver for a moment, looking at the cat before following behind Yuffie.

A plaintive yowling filled the air, loud and carrying down the street. Yuffie screeched to a halt upon hearing it; it was exactly the same as when that dark creature had been attacking the feline. A heavy weight seemed to settle on Yuffie's chest as the yowling grew even louder.

She huffed and turned around, stomping back up the stairs of the café and glaring at the annoying feline, still lying flopped over and pathetic-looking on their vacated table. The cat looked pissed and bewildered at the same time, which was strange, because Yuffie never thought herself proficient at reading the emotions of a cat.

The two held a small glaring match, Demyx watching amusedly in the back ground.

Finally, an aggravated sigh tore out of Yuffie's mouth, before she shouted, "I don't want you!"

With another world-weary sigh she scooped the cat up and proceeded back to Demyx's side.

There was going to be hell.

**-x.-X-.x-**

Zexion returned to the library much later that day, arms stacked with important documents, a roll of gauze wrapped around his forearm, and a folder suspiciously labeled 'Yuffie Kisaragi.'

He went through the lobby doors of the quiet library, sighing in relief at the calming aura that surrounded him after a stressful day under the attentions of that gods-forsaken king. He looked around the sunlit room, the cavernous enclosure appearing gold in the afternoon sunlight.

Nothing seemed out of place, Zexion thought. That annoying Yuffie girl didn't appear to be around either. He walked to the open lounge area where he had found the girl, plopping all of his paperwork down and whimpering at the pain in his bandaged arm. He turned and 'tsk'ed at the sight of the ruined sofa, eyeing water stains and small cat hairs all over the furniture.

He hated the sight; he really did, but…

"Too much effort," he decided aloud, closing his sharp eyes and sitting in an un-marred recliner, trying to relax and fall asleep.

Everything was quiet and calm, nothing but the inanimate dust (which he really should do something about, but…too much effort) to bother him. Minutes ticked by. He tried to snuggle down into the comfortable recliner. A nap was what he really needed, right now.

He waited a few minutes, trying to ease his mind into rest, but it didn't work. He tried to make himself more comfortable, but that didn't work either. Something kept niggling at the back of his mind, something tiny and bothersome. He couldn't think of anything that could be causing it, though.

He let out a small sigh of frustration.

Then, it hit him, like a ton of bricks.

His eyes shot open and he jumped from his position on the recliner. He irately made his way toward the front of the library. Here, he knew, was where the Dewey-decimal system of organization began, at the shelves at the very front, in plain sight of the lobby entrance. He knew his eyes had briefly scanned over the covers of the books in the shelves as he had passed by earlier.

He came to the very first shelf and allowed his eyes to pass over the spines of the books, noting their positions, until, at last, his eyes landed upon the very far side of the shelf, where all the books whose author's names began with 'A' were. He almost screamed at the sight he beheld.

How dare that little runt! How dare she place Alfred Abernol before Hardy Abernaler?!

Yuffie would pay if he ever saw her again. She would burn. Unfortunately, Zexion could foresee a lot of visits from her in the future.

Revenge would be his.

**-x.-X-.x-**

**(1)** This is a reference to the fact that Demyx controls water, lame as it is. Cats don't like water, so I figure that they wouldn't like him, either.

**-x.-X-.x-**

Yay, finito! I didn't think I would ever get it finished at the rate I was going. Sorry for taking so long! Things have been crazy. Hopefully, the next one won't take as long.

What's up with Nanaki? – Nanaki is from FFVII. I think I read somewhere that Yuffie and Nanaki were pretty okay with each other during the game, so I figured, why the hell not? At least the cat has a name now.

What's up with Zexion? – I think I also read somewhere that Zexion is a lazy genius. The kind of guy who's pretty much about order, order, order, but is still extremely lazy. So, he really cares about the organization of the books, just not maintaining their pristine condition. Though it isn't very funny, it's still Yuffie's perfect revenge against him for being a 'jerkwad.' I like him, though.

Next chapter is definitely going to be about school life! Definitely! By the way, I posted always-kh's prize fic! Go check out Returner, it's my gift to her!

Do you guys think I should write a Christmas one-shot? It's coming up, and with how fast I write things, it would be better to start now, rather than later, if I do one. What do you think? Yes, no?

Thank you for being so patient with this story, and thank you for reading! Please review, also. The DayDreaming out!

**By the way, how do you guys like the new summary? I really suck at making them up, but I hope it's better than the first.**


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